Dark Paradise
by cmart91
Summary: Emily(22) moves to Rosewood to attend Hollis, after being overseas for the last four years. Suffering from PTSD, Emily is trying to go back to a normal life and finds a job with new friends and a very attractive boss. Will Emily mix business with pleasure? Can Paige help Emily get over her condition? Paily AU
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N:** Hey guys. So this idea popped into my head one day while I was writing my other story and I decided to write one chapter of it. Not sure if I should keep it going though. If I do continue with this story it won't effect how regularly I update my current story The Girl With the Smile. So let me know what you guys think. Reviews would be very appreciated and hope you enjoy.=)_

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Chapter 1

A part of me thinks that I should have stayed, stayed for everyone that didn't make it so that I could fight for them. But then I think, what good it would be if I stayed for another tour? I came out of it when some weren't as lucky, I should live my life for them. I walk around this new town thinking of the friends I lost while overseas; and it's actually pretty peaceful, well the surroundings at least. When I first came home to New York City, it was really overwhelming with all the crowds and noise. I couldn't handle it, and my parents could tell that I was struggling with adjusting to life back home. I had been away for four years. I was a different person, and they could see that. So when I got accepted into different colleges for winter admission, I ruled out all the schools that had a large student population. My parents had wanted me to go to NYU, but I knew that would never be an option for me.

I finally decided on this small college in Pennsylvania, and now I'm really glad. I've been here for a week and it's nothing like New York, and this is exactly what I need right now. I wish that I didn't leave my parents because they barely got me back, but I need to do this for me. I walk around the town aimlessly thinking about my last four years, and finally settle into a place called the Apple Rose Grille. I'm looking at a menu when I hear a popping sound, and I jump up knocking over the table while making the waitress drop the drinks she had in her hand.

"Oh my God I'm terribly sorry!" I pick the table up and drop to the floor to help pick up the cups. I grab some napkins that were on my table and help the girl clean up the mess. The waitress looks at me and raises her eye brow while smiling.

"It's okay. No harm no foul." She grabs the cups from my hand and slowly stands up. "You go to Hollis right?"

"Yeah I just started. How did you know?" I walk with the girl towards the counter while I await her answer to my question.

"I thought I saw you in my English class. My name is Hanna by the way." The blonde extends her hand to me and I smile while I see her bright blue eyes sparkle.

"Emily." I shake her hand and return the smile. "I'm sorry for that by the way, I guess I just freaked out." I retracted my hand and avert my eyes.

"It's totally fine. Sorry, I have to go and take orders, the other waitress called in sick and we have no one else to fill in her place so.." She begins to walk away and abruptly stops and turns to me with a smirk.

"Hey have you ever been a waitress?"

"Um, not really but I guess there's always a first time for everything right?" I let out a chuckle and Hanna's face lights up. She goes behind the counter and hands me a notepad and a black waist apron.

"Perfect your already wearing a black t-shirt. Just take the orders and bring them to the cooks. And I'll ring them up after okay?"

"Yes ma'am" I head over to my first table and everything went smoothly and for the next five hours it was busy with people calling in orders and people walking in. For this being my first time doing this I actually did pretty good. It was the first time in the last four years that I have actually felt like a normal person, like I never went through the things I did. Hanna finally closes out while I clean the tables and she places a burger in front of me with some money.

"What's this?" I throw the towel over my shoulder as I sit down, and she places another plate down. She heads back to the counter where she grabs two sodas and finally sits down.

"These are your tips and some extra money. I also have to feed you for working a shift with no break." She sends a smile over to me before she takes a bite of her burger. "You know you should work here. You did great for it being the first time; my sister owns the restaurant but she leaves me in charge of the hiring. If you want the job it's yours, these other girl's are flakes." She rolls her eyes and I take a sip of my drink to hide my smile. I could use a job since my classes are all in the morning and it's not like I live far from here. I thought for sure after my freak out earlier it was going to be a bad day, but it's turned out okay. Slowly but surely, I am adjusting to "normal" life. I nod my head towards Hanna and she tells me to come on by tomorrow to fill out some paperwork.

Tomorrow morning comes ever so quickly. The sun comes through the window, blinding me in the face as it wakes me up. Rosewood was beautiful in the morning, and I really could get use to this town. It was quiet and I was already feeling at home here. I look around my apartment and see that I still have boxes everywhere. I smile to myself, because I know I will have plenty of time to make this apartment my home. I realize that my sleeping habits that I had become accustomed to are still in effect, seeing as it's 6 in the morning. There's no use in me trying to go back to sleep, so I change into a sweater and some basketball shorts. I decide to head out to go get some breakfast.

I walk around the town and nothing really catches my eye until I'm almost back to my apartment; an aroma sticks out to me and I'm met with a place called the Rear Window Brew. Coffee sounded really good right now, so I walk in and see a tall auburn woman placing pastries into the glass display case. She looks up at me with a smile and a good morning. Her smile was very warm and it made my stomach do flips, what is going on with me?

"You must be new to town." The auburn girl ducks under the display case and places one croissant on a plate and pushes it towards me. "On the house. What can I get you to drink?" I thought I was the only one who was this cheerful in the morning.

"An Americano. Also thank you. Yes ma'am I am. How did you know?" I grab the plate and hand her some of the tip money Hanna gave me yesterday.

"Ma'am? I don't think I'm much older than you." She lets out a small laugh as she makes my coffee. "It's a small town. Everyone knows everyone and everything around here. Here you go and sure thing."

"Sorry I guess its force of habit. How old are you by the way?" I grab the coffee and sit at a nearby table while she opens some boxes and starts stacking the coffee cups. "You know I'm slowly starting to figure that out."

"Just turned 25. And you solider?" I freeze as I hear her words, dammit I didn't want anyone to know about my past just yet. I look at her and she looks at me awaiting an answer.

"I'm 22 ma'am. How did you know I was a soldier?" I shyly look up at her and she comes and sits across from me.

"You called me ma'am, most young adults are not so proper. Also your posture is impeccable, most people slouch. My husband was in the army so I know how to spot a fellow soldier. " She gives me a weak smile and I notice she is holding onto a locket on her necklace. While we are sitting in silence, it seems like she's not here for a moment but she quickly snaps out of it, getting up and walking back to the counter to help a customer. I grab my croissant and coffee and head out the door. I walk over to the park to enjoy some more silence while finishing my breakfast. Even though it's winter, the sun still makes its way through and it feels good. I close my eyes as I soak up the little sun that's there, and listen to the wind rustle through the trees.

The hot sun beating down on me was something I became accustomed too, walking in very high temperatures with my uniform and armor weighing me down. During boot camp one of the tasks we had to master was being able to withstand a long period of time with our armor and uniforms. Still, the amount of training we went through couldn't have prepared us for this. I was usually on the day shift of our watches, which meant my squad got the worst of the heat. Roaming around the camp securing everything in the heat wore my squad and I down. When we had our off days we liked to just lie out in the sun without our armor. Granted, we hated being in the heat because of our armor, but without it the sun hitting us felt good. Soaking up the sun without my uniform, was one of my safe havens during my tours. I guess it was the thought of being at peace for at least one minute that got me through my four years.

Thinking about my squad and my tours passed the time; I was supposed to meet Hanna at 10 at the Grille. I walk to the Grille and open the door to find Hanna and two other brunettes at the counter looking at me.

"Emily. These are my best friends Spencer and Aria." The bubbly blonde introduces her friends to me and they seem nice. Looking at them, I can see Spencer is a bit shorter than me, while Aria looks like she's almost a foot shorter than me. Both girls had a pale complexion but Aria looked friendlier than Spencer, who looked weary of me. I extended my hand towards the two girls, and Aria shook my hand first and Spencer after some hesitation did the same.

"Nice to meet you both." Hanna moves forward and hands me the paperwork and I sit at the counter to fill it out. The three girls give me space and move towards a table nearby.

"So what brings you to Rosewood?" I turn to see that Aria was the one that asked the question.

"Um." I didn't want everyone to figure out I was soldier today, so I leave out some parts. "I needed a change of scenery, and I got accepted to Hollis so it just worked out that way." I continue to fill out my paperwork, when a little girl comes out of the back and runs to Hanna. Where did she come from? I guess I expressed a puzzled look because Hanna began to explain.

"Oh, she was in the bathroom when you first came in." Hanna picks up the little girl and the brown-haired girl hugs her and stops when she spots me. "That's Emily. Go say hi." The little girl looks at Hanna and back at me. She jumps off of Hanna and makes her way towards me. I kneel down to be at the same level as the girl, she couldn't be more than 4 years old.

"Hi" she says shyly.

"Hello. What's your name sweetie?" Hanna stands up and makes her way towards us and stands by the little girl.

"Evelyn" The little girl answers and holds on to Hanna's leg.

"You have a very pretty name" The little girl hugs me and I return the hug and give her a smile. "How old is your daughter?" I say as I look up at Hanna who lets out a small laugh, while the other two girls look at me wide-eyed. The little girl tugs at my shirt to get my attention.

"She's not mommy, she's auntie Hanna."

"This is my niece. She's my sister's daughter." I feel my cheeks burn in embarrassment, and I see Evelyn run over to Aria and Spencer where they begin to play with her.

"I apologize. I didn't know, I just assumed." I stand back up and I'm met with Hanna's eyes.

"It's fine. I'm always around her so I do get that sometimes. She's 3 almost 4 though." Hanna says with a smile and begins to walk over to the counter where I was filling out the paperwork and asked if I had finished. "Well, my sister should be here any minute to sign off so if you could wait that'll be great." I nod and as I'm about to sit down, I hear Evelyn run towards the door yelling 'Mommy'. I turn and see the woman from the coffee place I went to this morning. "There she is."

"Hey Paige." Spencer and Aria say in unison. Paige looks over at them and replies with a 'hi' and she looks over at Hanna and sees me. She smiles at me and I feel my stomach do flips again as she walks over.

"We meet again." I smile at her cheerful words. Yeah I really like this town so far.


	2. Chapter 2

**_A/N:_**_ HAPPY 1st day of March! Well I just want to say..._

_Wow I'm really surprised by how many people have read the story and enjoyed it. So thank you for all the Follows,Reviews, and Favorites. Well I hope that you guys stick with me for this story I know that it's a bit darker, for those of you that have read my other Fic. _

**_MindFullofStories-_**_Lil! I had a feeling you would read and review this right now its midnight here(I live in California). Okay lets do this*Cracks knuckles* Well So far it's the four liars and Paige. Jenna will be in this chapter but as for other characters i'm not quite sure yet. You find out who the parents of Paige and hanna are in this chapter, as well as the Age of the other liars, and Paiges education level. Yes more interaction between hanna and Paige will happen, just not in this chapter. And Evelyns father will still be a mystery. Phew that was alot of questions but it's fine, always happy to answer your questions. So ask away!_

_**Guest**- Your got it dude!__(or dudette) _**_jazzyatheart -_**_Why thank you. can't wait to write more and for you to read it! __**Nae10**_-Hope you like where I'm going with this _**bamary-**I think kids in Fic are interesting soooooo ENJOY! **dmpanda5-** Well thank you for liking it! And here's more for you. **go-sullivan**- Well thank you! I enjoy your Stories as well._

_**saii79**- I know right? I thought it would be fun having Hanna be alil different then how we are use to in the show. Well thank you for your interest in this story and for reading my other Fic. Oh I just want to say that I love the cover art you do for the Red Velvet story!  
_

_**Del**-Yes they are sisters. I thought that adding a little twist like that would be interesting. And well I hope I can help you picture it, I know it's different but hopefully i can satisfy your curiosity this the rest of this story._

_**Cici**- You know I can never get anything past you Cici, you always make guesses and they are correct 99% of the time, I like that you pay attention to the details as well. Yeah the two are sisters and you'll find out how they are related in this chapter. Yeah i know it's a first in the fics so I hope I don't screw it up! Well thank you for that. And thank you for reading this Story as well. _

_**Paily lover**-I thought it would be good and different from my other story and some other stories to reverse the roles of Paige and Emily. Yes Emily as a soldier does sound sexy doesn't she? _

_Thank you to all who are reading the story it means alot to me. I love and appreciate reviews and i read and response to all of them. I hope that you all enjoy Chapter 2 of Dark Paradise._

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Chapter 2

"Hey thanks for giving me a ride." I rush into the car where the blonde awaits me with a smile.

I actually slept in for the first time in a long while. I got ready in a rush, and had begun to walk to campus. I had my first class in 10 minutes, and it would take me at least 20 minutes to get to Hollis. I had almost given up on making it to my class on time, when I heard a car honk at me while I was crossing the street. I was surprisingly happy to look up and see that it was Hanna in the driver's seat.

"No problem. Do you not have a car?" Hanna waits for me to fasten my seatbelt and we are off to school.

"No, I just walk everywhere but this morning I woke up late." I look at the blonde and she looks tired, not her usual perky self that I have become accustomed to in the last two days. "Didn't get enough sleep?"

"Oh, I was up late with Aria and Spencer last night doing a presentation, and I had to wake up early to get Ev ready to take her to preschool." I notice a smile a spread on her lips as she mentions the little girl, but before I could ask another question I see that we are already pulling up to Hollis.

"Wow it takes me twenty minutes to walk to campus." Hanna laughs as she gets out of the car and gets her purse. We walk in a comfortable silence up the stairs to the English building. "So may I ask you something?" Hanna looks at me with a small smile and eventually nods her head to my question. "How are you and Paige sisters? You two look nothing like each other." I had wondered about this since yesterday, when I formally met Paige as my boss at the Grille. Hanna had blonde hair and bright blue eyes while Paige had auburn hair with deep brown eyes; they were complete opposites.

"Yeah we get that a lot." The blonde smiles at my question as we continue to walk to our class. "We're step-sisters. My mom married her dad when we were kids. I was 2 and Paige was 7, we grew up together so I've always called her my sister despite us not being blood related." I had always wanted a brother or sister but I remained an only child. To compensate for me not having siblings, I became a babysitter for all the parents in our apartment building. It must have been nice to have someone to share moments with that could actually relate.

We sit through our English class and the teacher lets us out semi early, and as we walk out the door I see Spencer and Aria waiting for Hanna, I'm guessing. There was an awkward silence between all of us, and I finally decide to turn and walk towards my next class. "Emily. Do you want a ride to work after school?" I turn my heels to look at the blonde and her friends.

"No thank you. I'm fine with walking." I smile at the girls and make my way towards my next class. I needed my daily walk to get my mind off of things, I liked Hanna, but I didn't want to cause trouble with her friends because Spencer for some reason didn't like me. I go through the rest of my classes with ease, and actually leave campus sooner than expected due to my professors ending classes early. I begin to walk back into town and am taken away by the sound of wind rustling through the leaves.

Living in New York my whole life I hated the weather because it was always cold. It was only in the summer that I enjoyed the weather in New York. I felt like I was born on the wrong side of the coast because I loved the sun. So when I left to go to boot camp in Fort Jackson, South Carolina after high school graduation; I was soaking up the weather for the ten weeks of basic training. Once we finished training, we got deployed overseas with our squads. After my first tour was over, I missed the cold air of the New York streets. After my second tour I knew I didn't want to live on the west coast anymore, and that I wanted to stay on the east coast. Being in the sun 24/7 for four years really made you hate being in the sun and heat year round. The weather in Pennsylvania was similar to the weather in New York, but of course less crowded and that I was grateful for.

My shift at the Grille starts at 2pm but I get there around 12:30. I walk in and am immediately reminded of my hunger; since I was in such a rush this morning I had forgotten to eat breakfast. I walk to the counter to order a sandwich and fries. As I wait for my order, I hear a voice from behind me that makes me jump and knock over the stool next to me. I don't take to surprises very well and since this town is so quiet, my freak outs have become more frequent with little things.

"Whoa, I didn't mean to scare you Emily." Paige reaches for the stool on the floor and looks at me with worry. "I forgot to never sneak up on a soldier. My apologies." She gives me a half-hearted smile and I feel my cheeks burn.

"No need to apologize ma'am. You were saying something?" One of the waitresses and fellow co-workers gives me my order.

"I was just saying that you're really early for your shift." She has a point; I am an hour and a half early for my shift. Most people can't wait to leave work, and I'm here spending more time then I have to.

"Yeah my classes let out early, and I skipped breakfast; so I thought I would get something to eat here." I smile and grab my bag of food and start to head out the door when I feel Paige follow behind me.

"So how are you settling into Rosewood?" She asks as we stop outside the Grille.

"I'm settling in just fine. Classes are going well and now I have a job. Thank you by the way." I look up at Paige and she has worry in her eyes. Why is she so worried about me? She only just met me yesterday; I'm not really use to people being so caring. Overseas I did have my squad to rely on, but that was after weeks of basic training together.

"That's not what I meant Emily. I meant how are you adjusting to… you know." Right, she's the only one that knows I'm a soldier. Her husband is a soldier so she knows what it's like to be back from a tour. I pull out a fry and begin munching on them when I hear my stomach growl and Paige shreds her worried face and cracks a smile.

"It's been difficult, but I'm slowly getting the hang of things again." I grab another fry and offer her one. She takes it with a smile, and we begin to walk towards the town square. It is difficult adjusting to civilian life again, but I think I'm getting there. As long as I keep myself busy doing things, I think I will be fine.

"That's good to hear. If you ever want to talk about anything I'm here to listen." I smile at her kind words and we walk in silence as we eat my fries. "I have to pick up Evee but would you like to come with me? I mean if you don't have somewhere to be." I nod and we start to walk towards the preschool. I find it refreshing talking to Paige, we talk about little things, and it's nice knowing that she doesn't want to just talk about my experiences I've had the last four years. When I came back home, that's all my family could talk about. I understand their curiosity; but sometimes I find it surreal that I actually went to combat and experienced life across the world. I know that I have to talk about what happened to try to make it more real though. Talking to my parents didn't help, so one of things I agreed to when I moved to Rosewood was to go to therapy.

"Mommy!" The little girl runs up to Paige with a smile as we reach the doors of the preschool, and Paige lifts her into the air while bringing her into a tight hug. The little girl pulls away and places her small hands on Paige's face, and I can see that Evelyn is a miniature version of Paige; minus a few details. Evelyn's hair was more of a light brown than auburn, and both girls had cream-colored skin with a hint of pink to their cheeks. Their eyes were also big and brown, but looking harder at them both I notice that Paige's eyes are chocolate-brown and Evelyn's eyes are more amber. The little girl was really beautiful, and I could see where she got it from; Paige was stunning. As I see the exchange between the two, I feel like I am intruding on their mother-daughter moment. "Emmy!" My eyes snap up when the little girl's voice catches my attention. Paige quickly goes to correct the little girl.

"No Evee. It's Emily, not Emmy." She puts her daughter down and kneels down in front of Evelyn. I can see the disappointed face on the little girl and I feel my heart sink a little.

"Actually it's okay. My parents called me that when I was younger, and I forgot how much I missed it." I smile at the little girl whose face went from expressing sadness to having a giant grin on her face. "But only if I can call you Evee though." The little girl nods her head quickly, and I can't help but smile at the both of them. "Want a fry Evee?" I put the bag in front of her and she reaches for it, but quickly retracts as she looks up at the auburn woman with pleading eyes.

"You can have one sweetie." And with that Evee smiles and reaches for a fry as we wait for Paige to finish up talking to Evelyn's teacher. I begin to eat my sandwich and hand the remaining fries to Evelyn. We sit in silence as we eat, and I notice that Evelyn doesn't talk much and she keeps holding onto a necklace she has, just like Paige did yesterday. She reaches for a fry with one hand and her free hand is clasped over something hanging from her necklace, never letting it go while she's eating. "Ready to go?" Evee jumps up and grabs Paige's hand. They wait for me to get up and we begin walking.

"So if you own the Grille why do you work at the Coffee shop?"

"I started The Brew after I got out of college and The Grille is my mother's. I just manage it when she's not there, so I don't technically own it. It's tough managing both and being able to spend time with Evee though, because my mother hardly comes around. But The Brew is smaller so it's easier to run." I admire Paige for what she's doing, running two businesses and taking care of a child.

"Hey squirt!" I turn around in confusion while Paige and Evelyn turn in amusement as the little girl jump up to Hanna's arms. "Jeez, pretty soon I'm not going to be able to call you squirt; you're getting so big. What have you been eating?" Hanna hugs the little girl and puts her down and pretends to be exhausted.

"Fries! Emmy gived them to me!" Hanna looks at the bag the little girl is showing her and smiles up at me. "Auntie you want one?" Hanna nods and Evelyn gives Hanna a fry and begins to walk with Paige; leaving Hanna and I behind.

"You know, she doesn't really talk much and it takes her awhile to warm up to new people. So I'm surprised she's talking to you." We start to walk to the Grille, and as Hanna speaks I stare at the little girl in front of me skipping while holding hands with Paige. The little girl said few words to me, and I thought it was just because I was a stranger. I guess she likes me if she's actually talking to me when she usually doesn't talk to others as much. "She must really like you."

"I like her too. She's sweet, she reminds me of the children I use to babysit." We make it to the Grille; Hanna and I begin our shift just before the lunch rush. Both of us are working the floor today, while the waitress from earlier is at the register and taking phone orders. There are tables full of students with their books and their conservations filling the restaurant. I take orders until the lunch rush dies down and the students begin to leave. I'm about to take a break, when Hanna asks me to take one of her tables for her. I look over and the table consists of Spencer, Aria, Paige and Evelyn. I let out a low sigh and walk over to the table, and as I approach Paige and Evelyn smile at me. I see Spencer look between us and I see her cheeks redden and a scowl form. "Hanna's busy right now, and asked me to take over your table." My eyes fall to the little girl as I see her bright smile before she returns to coloring a picture. "What were you ladies having to drink?" They all reply to me but Spencer, and right before I was going to turn and leave I hear the little girl's voice.

"Auntie Spencer had cold tea, Emmy." I smile at the little girls attempt to break the tension between Spencer and I. I get the drinks and head back to the girls' table, but before I reach the table I hear Spencer whisper to the girls.

"Ev shouldn't be getting close to someone we know nothing about."

"Spencer, Evee is MY daughter. I know Emily well enough to know that she isn't any danger to Evee. I understand your concern for her but don't do this because…" Aria clears her throat and the two girls stop arguing as I set down the drinks. Enter the awkward silence.

"I'm going to take my break, but I'll have Jenna help you." I rip off my apron and storm to the back where the kitchen is, and grab my purse and calmly walk out of the Grille. I walk over to the town square and sit on one of the benches while I calm myself down. I was right about my first impression of Spencer; she didn't like me, and now she didn't want me around Evelyn.

Before I leave the town square to head back to the Grille, I notice a throbbing coming from my hand and see that I'm bleeding. "Shit." I walk back to my apartment and rinse my hand. I flinch when the water touches my raw skin. How the hell did that happen? I don't remember punching anything, I just remember being at the park and sitting on one of the benches and then suddenly I was sitting by a tree. I dry my cuts, and the rubbing of the towel against my skin makes me flinch again. I bite my lip in pain. I grab the first aid kit my mother packed for me when I left, and put ointment and wrapped my hand in some bandages. I look at the time and it's almost been a half hour, my breaks almost over. I run down the stairs and run down the street to the Grille and make my way to the back to get my apron and notepad. I ignore the stares I get from the girls that were still sitting at the table that I left them at. Jenna tells me what tables she took over for me, and I see Hanna on the floor. Good, I don't have to suffer from anymore awkward moments.

"Emily." I hear as I'm coming back from taking an order, and quickly hide my hand. Hanna is looking at me with some concern and her eyes move down to hand. "I already saw your hand, there's no need to hide it." Hanna calls for Jenna to take over the tables and begins to push me towards the kitchen, but I quickly move away and tell Jenna that she can stay at the register.

"Hanna, I just want to finish my shift. So if you don't mind, I have to get back to work." Hanna let's go of my hand and I walk over to check on my tables. I really hope that the next three hours go by fast. Once Spencer leaves, I feel myself relax a bit more. Now I know why I never had many female friends, because of things like this. Growing up, I always had male friends because I couldn't stand the cattiness that came from girls. Hanna and Paige had been really nice to me and befriended me. I thought I was wrong for ruling out women as friends, but I now know why I thought that in the first place. I finish up my shift and stick around to wipe down tables. I'm about to go home, but I'm stopped when I feel a tug on the hem of my shirt. I don't need to turn around to know who it is. I kneel before the little girl and I see that she's tired, but she still has a smile on her face.

"I see you tomorrow Emmy?" Her voice was so small but so sweet all at the same time.

"Actually I'm not working tomorrow. So maybe another day okay?" I attempt to give the girl a weak smile, and she turns to walk to Paige who's just staring at me as she picks up Evelyn. We stare at each other for a while, I can tell she has something to say to me but she can't with her daughter clinging to her. I turn away from her sad eyes and walk out the door where the cold air instantly hits my face, and I'm staring into the dark bitter night ahead of me.


	3. Chapter 3

_**A****/N**: Hello to all my readers. Well I usually alternate updating between my two stories but I'm stuck in a rut with my other story. Good news is that i have another update for this story. Again I'm so surprised at the amount of people that have read, followed and reviewed this story, but it's what helps me continue with this story. I have finals coming up in a week so you can expect less frequent updates for a week or so._

_**go-sullivan**-So many questions indeed but i do hope that i answer some of the unasked ones you have and what Spencer's problem is. So hope you enjoy! and Good Luck with your Finals this month!_

_**Del- **That is a great saying to sum up the part paragraph , that's kindof what I was going for when I wrote those last couple of sentences. Well you figure out one of the reasons why Spencer is acting like that towards Emily. Maybe the reasonings will be shocking to you but hopefully it makes since, well at least the first reasoning in this chapter. I dont mind questions so ask away. I'm curious to hear your other questions. Little Evee is a sweetheart huh? You will see a little moment with Em and Ev in this chapter but more in the next chapter._

_**Paily lover-** I know that it does seem like the roles should be reverse but again I thought it would be a nice change besides this way we get sexy soldier Emily. OMG did you read my mind? that's Exactly what i was thinking of when i started writing the story and when i was thinking about who Evees father was going to be. But there's also another reason for why Spencer is acting like this so just wait and see. Hopefully I can get over my Writers block to give you an update pretty soon!_

_**saii79****-** Evee is super cute isn't she? Yes she is alot like Paige but you see that she has some things from her Father(who you'll find out who that is in this chapter.) You know that really is a great way of describing Em and Ev's relationship. Yes she definitely needs the both of them and they need her too just as much. Spencers actions are very interesting aren't they? Well you'll learn why she's behaving like this, well partly. Until next time!_

_**funluvr151**-Thank you so much. I'm glad you love the story and that you liike my writing! Enjoy!_

_**getlostandruncici**** "Cici"**- asdaljndmandjkas. Nevermind i take it back after your last review and the guesses you made. you are correct 100% of the time. I know she really is Paige's mini-me from the looks to the mannerisms. YOu'll find out who the father is in a few mins. They are very open to Emily being their lives aren't they but really who could possibly turn down Emily Frikin Fields? =) I'm not going to go into about Spencer because everything you said in your last review about your "feels" is right. I really can't get anything pass you CiCi. You're too good lol. But I like it. Yes her violence is because of her PTSD but she's not aware of it yet. Can't wait to hear more of your guesses on the next review!_

_**Nae10-** Yes Evee is super cute and already loves Em, but I mean who wouldn't? Yes they do have a connection towards each other and it's slowly coming together. Both women have some darkness they they need to get through so it's just a matter of if they can help each other get out of it. Until next update!_

_Again I love and appreciate reviews and I read all of them and take them into consideration. They really help me see if I'm doing a good job and if i need to improve on anything. Again Thank you for taking the time to read my story and I hope you Enjoy Chapter 3 of Dark Paradise..._

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Chapter 3

**Emily's POV**

26,27,28,29,30

Three sets down. Ever since I got back from the Grille, I haven't been able to sleep. It's 3 in the morning and I've been up for almost 24 hours; this isn't a foreign habit though. The first weeks of me being back home I would spend all night up. Since I was living in New York, I would leave the apartment and wander around, eventually ending up at the same 24/7 diner a few blocks away. Usually when this happened, it was because I let my thoughts get the better of me. But, since I am in a small town and it is three in the morning, I can't exactly just walk around the town; especially with the amount of cops there are here. I tried to sleep at first, but memories and words flooded my mind that I kept me tossing and turning for an hour. I decided then that it would be a long night, so I started doing my assignments from my classes and I caught up on the readings for all the classes. I even read ahead until I finally got fed up with it. I unpacked some of my boxes, and put a collection of photo albums on the shelf I built my first day here. Again getting tired of unpacking, I strip down to some shorts and a sports bra and end up working out.

I alternate between sits up and push ups, and for a while it gets my mind off of things. But after two hours of switching off, I find myself laying on the floor exhausted and thinking about Paige and Spencer. The more I think about it the angrier I get, and the more my hand throbs. I guess I should go and get it looked at. I'm afraid though that when they ask me how it happened and I don't have an answer for them that it will send up red flags.

I need to know why Spencer doesn't like me just by looking at me. What did I do in the few minutes that I was in the same room with her, which made her form a negative judgment about me? I admire Paige though; standing up for me to someone she's known longer. She must see something in me that she would risk a friendship she's had for years, for someone who is just a stranger. She really is amazing now that I think about it. She seems to look at the best in people, as well as being strong for her and her daughter all while running two businesses. She really is something different.

I guess I let myself fall asleep thinking about Paige, because next thing I know I wake up around 6 o'clock with a cramp in my neck and the blaring ringing of my alarm clock. I feel goosebumps all over my body, as I turn on my side to the cold hardwood floor. As I pull myself up from the floor, I feel all my muscles ache; not sure if from sleeping on the floor or from my workouts. I stretch out and brush my teeth before heading out to get breakfast. I pull a zip up hoodie over my sore arms and walk down the stairs slowly. By instinct I head over to the Brew, but before I open the door I remember the events of yesterday, and slowly retract my hand from the handle and walk to a different coffee shop across town. Of course the coffee isn't as good as the Brew's, but I guess I can learn to like this coffee. I walk past the Brew again and see a glimpse of Paige through the window. My shoulders slowly sink as I watch her through the glass, I shouldn't be avoiding her. Spencer is the one that doesn't like me, but I feel like I should stay away from Paige and Evelyn as well. But as I stare at her, I feel some sort of pull towards her that keeps me from looking away. I finally had peaceful sleep, and it was when I was thinking about her.

I stand there staring at Paige and I feel like I shouldn't be doing this. I should leave her alone like how Spencer wants me to, but I can't take my eyes off of her. Her auburn hair is pulled back into a ponytail, with a few loose hairs making their way over her eyes. As she bends down to put pastries in the display case, her shirt lifts up and exposes a patch of the cream-colored skin above her hip. I rip my eyes away from her exposed skin and feel my cheeks burn.

"Emmy!" My head whips towards the voice, and I feel the urge to walk away from the little girl but I resist.

"Hey Evee. You're up really early." I hesitantly walk over to the little girl and muster up a smile. I shouldn't be here; if Spencer by any chance sees me she'll talk to Paige again. Usually I wouldn't care about what Spencer thought, but the fact that she would be giving Paige a hard time about me really doesn't sit well with me.

"I baking with Mommy. Come on!" The little girl pulls my hand, and I stop her and kneel to be at eye level with her. The little girl stares at me and I see her clutching onto her necklace again. I'm about to ask what she's holding, when I flinch as I see her small hand reach for my neck. She grabs my dogtags hanging around my neck, and traces the lettering embedded into the metal.

"Evelyn Rose!" The little girl and I both jump, making me lose my balance. I fall backwards, and in the process I spill my coffee all over myself. The coffee goes through my hoodie quickly, seeping into the material hitting my bare stomach and chest. I should have put a shirt on so that it would have protected me better. "Emily! I'm so sorry. Come inside and we'll clean you up." Paige rushes over to my side, and offers me a hand to help me up. I reach up for her hand, and in the instant I realized I had been in the cold for too long; because the warmth of her hand stings against my icy fingers. She rushes me inside, and Evelyn is following quickly behind us. I settle down at a table while Paige brings me a towel and I start to dry off my chest. Paige leaves to go to the back of the café, and I unzip the rest of my hoodie and slip out of it. The wet hoodie was clinging to my body, and when I placed it on the chair I could feel the leftover coffee stick to my skin. I take the towel and wipe down my stomach, but I can see the irritated skin appear and the burning sensation continues.

"I sorry Emmy." I had totally forgotten that Evelyn was in the room. I'm standing without a shirt in front of a little girl in a public place. Shit. I reach for the hoodie but it's too late, because Paige stops in her tracks when she sees me. She has a shirt in her hand but she isn't moving, I'm very still too, I can't move.

"I have to go." I finally snap out of it, and grab my hoodie and head towards the door. I quickly put on my hoodie and I'm met with the cold air hitting my bare skin. I power walk over to my apartment and jump in the shower. I decide to take a cold shower to ease the soothing of my burns on my stomach, and the continued throbbing of my hand. The cold water hits the rest of my body and I tense at first, but then I slowly relax as the water runs down my skin. I went out of my way to avoid the people I had grown fond of, yet I still end up in her Café. Without a shirt. As I stand in the shower I think of Paige. God what is wrong with me, first I fell asleep thinking about her and now I am thinking about her in the shower. Now I'm glad I'm taking a cold shower; maybe it'll teach me to not think about a married woman anymore. I finish up my shower, and as I softly pat down around my burnt stomach I'm suddenly hit with a question. Was Paige checking me out?

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**Paige's POV**

The fear of losing people is what drives me crazy. I lost my mother for a while, I lost the majority of my college friends when I moved back to Rosewood, and I kept losing Jason until finally he didn't come back. So now that I'm baking pastries at the Brew, I stare at my little girl in front of me and I see Jason. I guess I didn't realize I was lost in one of the last memories I had with him when I was staring at Evee, but suddenly she wasn't there. Fear runs through my mind. I run around the café calling her name and there's no response. I finally look out the window to catch a glimpse of Emily before she crouches down. I walk towards the door and see Evee holding on to Emily's necklace. "Evelyn Rose!" I feel relief when I find that Evee is just outside of the café, and that she's at least with someone who she knows. I immediately think my reaction of yelling at Evee is wrong, when I see Emily fall backwards. I feel terrible about scaring the two girls; and when I see that Emily's coffee is all over her, I feel even worse. I apologize, help her up, and start to drag her into the Brew to clean her up. I hand her some towels, and quickly move to the back to get her a shirt. I didn't think I was going to see her today; I'm actually pretty glad she's here. I really had to apologize for what happened yesterday with Spencer. Spencer usually never acted like that, and I understand where she's coming from, but I feel that she could have brought it up another time.

When I moved back to Rosewood four years ago, I was welcomed with open arms by my dad and my friends that I left behind. I had moved in with Jason and Spencer, his younger sister, but eventually it was just Spencer and I living together with the addition on Evee. Spencer has been very protective of Evee and I since Jason passed away, and I'm grateful for her, but I also feel like we can't grow if she keeps us in this bubble.

Jason was the only person I have ever been with. We started dating our junior year of high school up until he died a year ago. Seven years of being with the same person ,and then having them be taken away from you takes getting used to. It reminds me of whenever Jason came back from a tour, and how he would adjust to life back home. Now I can see it in Emily as she is learning how to do normal things again. Emily. Right, she's soaking in coffee and needs another shirt. I better head back to her and Evee.

I walk through the doors and my legs stop at the sight of Emily, with a dark blue sports bra and some shorts. I try and pull my eyes away from her, but they fall to Emily's tan stomach. Her shorts are hugging her hips just below her belly button. I keep staring at her incredibly toned stomach, and I gulp as my eyes move up towards her sports bra and to her bare arms. She has a tattoo on her inner forearm that I hadn't seen before, and also another on the right ride of her ribcage. I couldn't make out what the tattoo on her forearm was, but the one on her ribcage is writing that I can't see from where I am standing. My eyes fall to the chain that's hanging around Emily's neck, with her dogtags on them. I lift my hand to clasp my fingers over my locket, and Emily's sudden movement makes my eyes finally blink.

"I have to go." She picks up her hoodie heading for the door and before I could stop her she's halfway down the block.

"Mommy, why'd Emmy leave?" My eyes reach my daughter, and I wish I had an answer for her but I don't. I don't even have an answer for myself.

"I don't know sweetie, but we will see her later okay?" I see Evee jump up with a smile and settle onto a stool where she washes her hands before helping me stack scones. "Sweetie, why did you go outside earlier?"

"Emmy was outside so I go outside. She was looking at us." Evee grabs the scones with both hands, and places them on a plate. I grab a small plate and place a muffin for her to eat, and she smiles before taking a bite. God, her smile is just like Jason's. Jason was so happy when I had told him I was pregnant back my senior year of college. He was somewhere overseas when he got the news, and when he came back from his tour he was the happiest I had ever seen him when he first held Evelyn. Since he was overseas during my whole pregnancy, Spencer had gone to all the appointments with me and was in the delivery room. We had become really close in those months; at times too close. "Thank you." Evelyn's amber eyes look up at me, and it makes me forget about Jason and Spencer for a moment.

"Evee, why do you like Emily?" I finish stacking the scones, and pour myself a cup of coffee before sitting down with my daughter. No one usually comes in until 7, and Hanna would be coming around soon to pick up Evee to take her to school. Evee had woken up when my alarm clock went off at 5, and by the time I got ready and was about to leave, she was waiting for me with her backpack at the door. Leaving Hanna a note, Evee and I left to work, I love my daughter, and I wish I did have more time to spend with her. I usually worked from 5:30 in the morning until 8 at night, and by the time I get home Evee is asleep. This isn't the first time she's woken up early to come to work with me, but I was surprised this morning that she was up because she went to sleep kind of late last night. Nevertheless, I was happy to spend a few hours with my daughter, because who knew when I would get another chance to spend some quality time with her.

"She's like daddy. She has this too." She lifts up her necklace chain to reveal Jason's dogtag, something that she's never taken off since she got it.

"There's my favorite niece." Spencer runs in and picks up Evelyn throwing her over her shoulders.

"Morning Auntie Spencer." Evee wraps her arms around Spencer's neck. I didn't anticipate seeing Spencer this early. I didn't get to apologize to Emily for Spencer, but now I get to have a talk with Spencer.

"Evee, why don't you go and color on the couch? I need to talk to Auntie Spencer." I grab her backpack from under the counter and hand it to her, and Evee looks up at Spencer giving her a smile before trotting away to the couch in the lounge.

"You need to apologize to Emily for way you acted yesterday."

"Paige, don't act like you're my mother. I'm not going to apologize for protecting my family." Her voice rises just a bit and I can see her cheeks redden just a bit and her eyes narrow.

"I don't need you protecting us Spencer. I am perfectly capable of taking care of MY daughter. Evee likes Emily, and already trusts her enough to actually speak to her, you know she doesn't talk to just anyone Spencer" I raise my voice to match hers and I step a bit closer to her.

"What happens when Emily leaves for another tour?" Her voice lowers and we both turn to look over at Evee, whose coloring in her book and in her own world. I didn't think anyone else knew about Emily being a soldier, since on the application for the Grille there was no mention of it, and Hanna hadn't mentioned it either. "I saw her dogtags peeking out of her shirt the day that I met her. Ev doesn't need more people leaving her, Paige." Spencer's brow furrow, and I can see her concern, and it was something that I hadn't thought about until now.

"I appreciate it Spence, but stop trying to keep her in our little circle. Circles are meant to be broken." I reach out for her hand and she retracts it at my touch, and stares at the floor, avoiding my gaze.

"Well, Hanna called and asked if I could take Ev to school, so I guess I'll take her off your hands." Evee walks up with her backpack strapped to her shoulders, and I feel her tiny hand slip into mine.

"See you mommy. We see Emmy later right?" I hug my daughter tightly and give her a kiss on the cheek.

"Yes sweetie I promise" My eyes peer up to Spencer and I can see her jaw clench. I smooth the hair down on Evelyn's head and press a kiss onto her hair. I close my eyes and breathe in my little girl, the only thing that keeps me sane. Her fingers slip out of my hand and her warmth that was pressed up against my chest is now gone, while I hear their footsteps escaping from me.


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: Happy Friday! I would like to say I am terribly sorry that it's taking me this long to update this story as well as my other story (for those that read both.) I had been caught up this Studying for finals but I took my last one on Wednesday so hopefully I crank out a few chapters for each story in the next two weeks. So what did everyone think of the PLL finale on tuesday? I miss our Mccullers and can't wait for the next season when she returns!_

**_go-sullivan: I feel that Paige isn't the type to cheat, in any story, too. At some point I will clarify their relationship more probably in the chapter after next at the latest. I too have an instant trust for people in the military to because of my father. He was in the Navy and even though he left before I was born, I was still around his military friends. So now when I meet someone in the Military i feel some sort of a pull towards them. I'm sorry about the stress and worry that you probably felt when you didn't hear from your parents. It's fine if you ramble I don't I know you're in med school and I hope the little part I incorporated is _****_accurate_** and I don't butcher anything. Hope your finals are going well!

**_saii79: I love Evee as well and I think that you will like a scen_****_e between Evee and Em in this chapter. There will be a snippet of McHastings but I promise you I'll let you know beforehand so you can skim it if you want. It will just be a little flashback and that's it. I know, I notice that I've havent incorporated lately but she will be in the next chapter. Hope you enjoy!_**

**_Del:I'm glad you caught that. I didn't think anyone would catch the reference to the 'Will the Circle be Unbroken?' episode title. Just remember that Em doesn't know what Evee is holding, Kids are really curious though i have cousins around the same age of Evee and they touch everything that catches their eyes. Yeah I was going to Make a new Character to be Evee's dad but I decided I wanted it to be one of the PLL boys, and I didn't want it to be Sean. Spencer has been known for being protective of her friends so she's going to be over the top protective of her niece. She at first was looking after Emily because she was in the army like Jason but now it's turning into something more. Like I said ask away I enjoy answering them. Until next time._**

**_jme2887: Yes you get three stars for guessing right! Something did happen between them and I'll go into details about it later. Don't worry about it though.=) I knew you would get a kick out of Emily's outfit(or lack of) and paige eye sexing emily lol. Those details ust make both of them sexier, dont they? lol Thank you for the luck. I think I did pretty well. I'm glad i can rock your mind with both of these stories. hopefully I'll update TGWTS soon._**

**_Nae10: Well here you are I'm giving you more. I think this is the longest chapter I've written. Thank you for loving this fic so much and your support on it. I thought me adding them checking each other out would put a smile on everyone's face lol. Well sorry you had to wait so long to read the next chapter but ill try and fix that!_**

**_MindFullofStories: Hi Lil! You miss the story and it missed you too! Yes she does have feelings for her and it is when it started. Yeah she doesn't notice that something is happening to her and that her PTSD is acting up more so now with more frequent blackouts. You'll find out about her therapy in this chapter. Yes Paige is still coping with Jason's death and the Fact the Evee is going to grow up without her dad so she kindof spaces out. I will put a few flashbacks in here with all three of them , just wait. Until next review Lil!_**

**_2volution:Emily is very attractive already in the military is beyond hot. Paige as a mother is amazing and Evee is ridiculously cute. Well your Opinion is very true but you just have to wait and see how it works out. Well you don't need to wai t anymore 'cause it's here! Enjoy!_**

**_Thank for everyone who is reading, Following and Reviewing the story I really appreciate the support I am getting for this story. I love getting reviews and I appreciate them and really try to incorporate your suggestions into the story. Well I think i should just let you get to reading the next chapter so you don't have to wait if the beginning of Paige's POV is repetitive just wanted to show her feelings. Here's Chapter 4...Enjoy!_**

* * *

Chapter 4

** Emily's POV**

I shake any thoughts of Paige out of my mind as I'm drying myself off. I can't afford to have them near me. I pull a NYU sweater over my chest, and find that it fits perfectly right now. I had first gotten the sweater while I was doing summer courses when I was still high school. At the time, I had gotten a bigger size than I was so now it fits me loose, but not as baggy as it did 5 years ago. I've gained muscle since then and, it's just what I needed so that the cotton blend clothing wouldn't irritate my burns more. I really should go to the hospital since my hand is still throbbing, and I feel like it's getting worse. I guess I should find my pants and head over there.

After tearing up my tidy apartment, I finally just settle on some old basketball shorts. I'm just going to the hospital, it's not like I'm going to a fashion show. I'm not even going to my classes today, so I guess I can have a carefree day; I'll find my jeans later. I walk out of my apartment, and I realize that people are now up and about going to work or school. I feel eyes on me as I'm walking down the street. Everyone is bundled up in layers since there is cold morning air, but I'm here wearing some basketball shorts. Well, at least what I'm wearing now is better then what I was wearing earlier. It's almost 8 o'clock when I make it halfway across town, and as I make my way past the town square I feel my eyes drift to the Brew. I see teenagers run out in a hurry, and people with suits go in with ease. I think about making my way over to get my much needed breakfast, but resist and continue to the hospital.

I walk into the hospital where I'm asked to fill out paperwork, then to wait before a doctor will see me. I see that there aren't many people in the waiting room, but still I'm there a half hour before a nurse calls my name and takes my weight and height. She then asks me if I smoke or drink alcohol. After she asked her questions and finished writing on her chart, she told me the doctor would be right in. Before the nurse leaves, I give her a smile and a thank you as the door closes. I fall back on the examination table and hear the crinkling of the paper, which they change every time a patient comes in.

The last time I was in a hospital was when I was in Iraq, and it was after an ambush. I remember waking up to bright lights hitting my face. I had been shot in the arm, and the thigh. That was the main reason for my tour ending earlier than expected. Luckily, the bullets didn't hit any major nerves and I only needed 6 weeks of rehab. That's why I stayed in New York for as long as I did, because my mother wanted to accompany me to the sessions. I move my fingers up to the scar halfway up my thigh, and make circles around it. I should have died that day.

"Hello Emily, my name is Dr. Hastings." A tall slender brown haired woman walks in with her polished white lab coat draped over a skirt, and a purple collared button up. "Your chart says you're here to get your hand and some burns looked at, is that correct?" The doctor shows me a warm smile; she looks a bit on the younger side to be a doctor.

"Yes ma'am. It's been throbbing since last night when it happened. I also have some burns on my stomach and chest from some extremely hot coffee." My eyes fall to the floor out of embarrassment.

"Well, if you wouldn't mind taking your shirt off so I could examine the burns. Then we can look to see what's going on with your hand." The doctor seemed nice and she looks at my chart some more while I gently pull my sweater over my neck. She then sees my red stomach and chest. "Ow that looks painful. Did you try treating it at all?"

"I just took a cold shower after it happened, and then I came here ma'am." I look at her and she examines my burns more closely. She pulls some gloves out of the first drawer; after putting them on she presses down on my stomach gently making me flinch every time.

"Well the good news is, that it's only a first degree burn. However, it is covering the majority of your torso so you will feel some tenderness. I will prescribe some ointment for you to put on the burns for the redness to go down. But you will have to keep your body elevated for a few days. I can tell that it hurts you to sit down. Now let's see that hand." I lift my hand up to her, and I can see that it's purple now where my knuckles are. What happened that last night? I must have punched something, but what? Why can't I remember? "How did you say this happened again?" The doctor looks at me with a raised eyebrow.

This is exactly why I didn't want to come in today. "I punched something last night." I said the first logical thing that came to my mind.

"It looks like you punched something that has ridges, because if you look here it scraped your skin. It also looks like you broke a finger or two, but I would have to take some X-rays to make sure." She calls in a nurse to take me to get X-rays done on my hand. After examining my many X-rays she confirms that I have a broken finger. Great...

"I think I punched a tree." I say as she begins to put a splint on both my index and broken middle finger of my right hand. I try not to make eye contact with the doctor. When I was at the town square last night I was sitting on a bench, then the next thing I know I wake up sitting by a tree. So I'm guessing I blacked out and went over to the tree, because that's when I felt my hand throbbing. But then again I'm just assuming that's what happened by putting the pieces together.

"I bet the tree deserved it." I look up to see a smirk on the doctor's face as I come back from my thoughts. "But you're lucky you only went away with a broken finger though."

"I wouldn't know ma'am. I don't remember how it happened." She looks at me with weary eyes and concern when I reveal the information, but quickly directs her attention back to my hand.

"I couldn't help but notice your dogtags. Did you just come back?"

"I should really take these off." I chuckle but then return to a serious face. "My tour ended a little over three ago ma'am."

"If you don't want people to know, you shouldn't be so formal. But you should keep the tags on. My niece never takes my brothers tags off." She smiles at the memory of her brother and niece. "Have you gone to see a therapist yet?"

"No ma'am. I've been meaning to, but I just started working and I haven't gotten around to it." I was partly telling the truth; I had been so busy since I've moved here that I totally forgot. Also, a part of me didn't want to go see someone, I know that it's recommended that all soldiers go see a therapist at least once, but how could talking to a stranger help? Then again, I think of talking to Paige and how she is basically a stranger, yet it was really easy to talk to her. Not even about my tours in Iraq but just about life in general, it was so easy to disclose myself to her.

"There's a really good psychologist here at the hospital if you want me to make an appointment for you. She helped my brother when he came back from his tours." I nod my head and the doctor smiles and tells me she would be back with an appointment for me. Maybe a therapist would be good; I need to let out everything that happened. I lift my hand up to see my fingers, noticing the pain and swelling has gone down. Dr. Hastings had injected the nerve by my broken finger so that I would feel less pain while she repositioned it before putting the splint on. I was in so much pain after my shower; I'm surprised that I could even put weight on it last night when I was doing pushups. I guess I was running on so much adrenaline that I couldn't feel it; or maybe I've just become numb to the pain.

Dr. Hastings comes back and tells me that there were a few openings this week, and had asked which day and times would be better for me. I picked one of the dates, and she begins to write on a piece of paper. Her long chocolate brown hair was pulled into a ponytail, and when she turns I see her high cheek bones and pale complexion. She looks familiar, or her features look familiar but I can't place them. She hands me the piece of paper with the appointment time, date and location.

I hop off the examination table while pulling down my sleeve before heading out of the room. "Emily you shouldn't hide your past or who you are." I look up at the doctor with a timid smile, and she returns the favor before beginning to write in her charts again.

I take my prescription for the ointment and for some painkillers for my hand, to the local pharmacy. The pharmacist tells me that it will take 20-30 minutes before the prescriptions will be ready, and I say that I will just come back before walking out the door. I think about what Dr. Hastings said, and I shouldn't hide who I am. I'm actually proud of the person I have become. Growing up, I was always self-conscious because I was a late bloomer according to my mom. But by my junior year, my body had fully developed but I was still the subject of girl cattiness. I always kept to myself and to my schoolwork, which was why I was teased all throughout high school. I was always studying, while other girls were out at parties and dances, but when I joined the army I became more outgoing and really grew into myself. I found out things about myself in the last four years that I never knew about, but something's I wish I didn't find out.

"Hi Emmy!" I look around and realize that I was lying on the grass in the town square, and Evelyn is sitting next to me with a gleaming smile on her face. I prop myself up on my elbows and Evelyn mimics me and makes me smile. I look at my watch and see big numbers telling me its one o'clock. I got out of the hospital around eleven and left the pharmacy at almost 11:30, so I guess I've been here for an hour and a half. I find it interesting how since I moved to this town; I seem to lose myself in my thoughts more frequently than I did in New York.

"Hey Evee, Where's your mom?" I look behind the little girl, and there's no sign of Paige anywhere and my face falls slightly. I don't know why though, I think I'm avoiding Paige more than Evelyn now that I think about it. For some reason whenever I'm around Paige, I just turn into a mess and I don't know why.

"She's at the Grille. Jenna is sick." She has a disappointed look on her face, and she flips so now she's laying on her stomach with her chin resting on top of her hands. "She was supposed to spend day with me. She promised we'd see you. " I roll over and copy her pose because I'm confused why Paige would say that to Evelyn, especially after this morning.

"Wait, if your mom and Auntie Hanna are working today, who got you from school?" I look around, and I suddenly see Spencer sitting on a bench facing us about 50 feet away. She has a book open, but I can see her peering over the book before looking away after I catch her eye. "Nevermind, I see Spencer." She looks towards Spencer and waves happily at her, and Spencer waves with a forced smile.

"Mommy and Auntie Spencer were fighting." The little girl picks at a piece of grass and wraps it around her tiny fingers. "You not going to leave right? Auntie Spencer told Mommy that." I furrow my eyebrows as I'm processing what she said, why would Spencer say that? I look back at Spencer seeing she's on her phone now, and walking around the bench with her eyes gazing up at us every once in a while. I look back at the little girl, and her amber almond shaped eyes are staring up at me; and I can't help to think of Paige.

"Don't worry I'm not going anywhere, unless you want me to leave, okay?" I smile at the little girl, and I rip out some grass to pile it on top of her hair. This causes her to burst out into laughter while grabbing some grass and doing the same to me. I quickly get up and run in a circle to catch the little girl, and when I finally catch up to her, I pick her up and she climbs on my back quickly while laughing and putting more grass on top of my head. So I just got conned by a 4 year old to give her a piggy back ride, because she's not letting go. I feel the warmth of her little hands that are fastened around my neck, and I move my hands to wrap around her feet so she won't slip and I won't choke. I run and hop with her on my back, which fill my ears with the contiguous laughter of the little girl. I finally stop to walk over to Spencer, and when she sees me walking towards her she hangs the phone up and her face hardens. "Hey Spencer, I was just bringing Evee to you, since I'm going to pick up a shift for Paige." Evelyn climbs off my back, and is pouting while averting her eyes. "I had fun talking to you Evee. I'll see you later okay?" the little girl nods and shyly smiles while sitting on the bench picking up her teal polka dot backpack. I begin to walk away when I hear Spencer call after me, making me turn on my heels to face her.

"I wanted to say sorry for what I said yesterday. I'm just protective of them." She turns towards the little girl with sad smile before looking back at me. Her eyes aren't meeting mine, and she's making a circle in the dirt with the tip of her shoes.

"I understand being protective, Spencer. But telling a child that someone's going to just leave them isn't right. If you have issues with me for whatever reason, talk to me and don't make assumptions." Her face is hard now as she let's my words sink in.

I walk towards my apartment to change into some dark washed jeans, that I finally found, and my black work shirt. When I grab my bag with my bad hand, I remember I have to pick up my prescriptions as I smooth out my shirt on my still tender stomach. I should be lying down, but I think I owe it to Paige to take her shift so she can be with Evee. I walk down the steps of my apartment to head over to pharmacy, where I pick up my order and pop two of the painkillers into my mouth before heading to the Grille.

"Emily? What are you doing in your work clothes?" Hanna appears in front of me with a pitcher of water and a confused look on her face.

"I heard Jenna was sick and you were shorthanded." I walk towards the back to put my purse away, and to grab my waist apron when Paige appears in front of me; making me jump back.

"Emily? You're off today, so why do you look like you're ready to work?" She rings up a ticket, and I'm watching her fingers gracefully maneuver over the cash register. Her hand moves up to the back of her neck, where she begins to massage it with her free hand. I get lost in her cream-colored skin, while feeling the urge to walk up to feel her soft looking skin. I will myself to shake the thoughts away from me. I seriously need to stop with these thoughts. I pinch the bridge of nose with my bad hand, and when I lower it I see Paige staring at me with sadness on her face. I lower my hand to my side, watching her gaze follow it and I realize that I have the splint and have my hand wrapped.

"It's not as bad as it looks. I went to the doctors today." I lift my hand with a smile and tie my hair up in a high ponytail grabbing a notepad.

"I'm glad you went to the doctors, 'cause last night it looked really bad. Wait, why are you here and not enjoying your day off and resting?" She leans back on the counter folding her hands over her chest awaiting an answer.

"I ran into Evelyn and Spencer. Evelyn seemed upset that you had to fill in for Jenna, and that she couldn't spend the day with you. So I was going to propose a shift change." I tie a knot to secure my waist apron, and wait for her to answer me. She looks at me in awe by my offer, and the corners of her lips move upward just slightly. Her eyes are really focused on me as I feel her eyes burning into every part of my body. The question that I had this morning in the shower comes back to me, and it makes me wonder if she is checking me out again.

"Are you sure you want to take my shift? I can just make it up to Evee a different day." She pushes her body away from the counter, and steps close to me making me hold my breath. I tense up at her closeness and if my eyes are not deceiving me, I spot a smirk on her face.

"I'm sure. I don't really have a life so I can work whenever, but you have a daughter that really wants you to keep your promise to her. So go be with her." I offer a nervous smile to Paige and she hugs me. My body doesn't know how to react to her touch, so I hesitate before returning the hug. Her body is warm against mine, and I lose it when my lips graze her soft exposed neck. I quickly retract my hands as I move away from her slowly and her eyes are focused on me. "Um I should go take orders. Have fun with Evee and tell her she owes me." I walk away from Paige and to the nearest table before my thoughts of moving closer to her become a reality. "Hello. Welcome to the Applerose Grille. My name is Emily, can I get you started with some drinks?" I say with a smile, trying to distract myself from the burn I feel in my cheeks as I sense eyes peering into my back. I finish taking the orders and when I glance up, I catch a glimpse of Paige before she leaves. I watch her walk away, feeling my heart beating hard against my chest as her hips sway further into the distance.

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**Paige's POV**

"Sorry to call you during class, but can you pick up Evee today?"

"Yeah sure, you have work today?" She says after a while of contemplating the question. After our little disagreement this morning, I didn't know what she would say when I asked her; but then again it is for Evelyn and she loves that little girl.

"Jenna called in sick, and I already called Shana and she said she has classes today. So I have to work at the Grille today." I tilt my head to my shoulders to hold the phone up, as I wipe down the tables and countertops.

"Why don't you call Emily?" The tone in her voice tells me that she still has some resentment towards Emily.

"I don't want to call her." I slowly stop wiping the table as I think about Emily, and our run in a few hours ago. I keep thinking about her tan skin and all her defined muscles. I wipe the beads of sweat from my forehead that I have accumulated while thinking about Emily. "Thank you, Spencer."

"Anytime Paige." Spencer's voice sounds different now, more sincere than harsh like it was before.

I wish that Spencer would be this way with everyone. I first met Spencer when she and Aria had become friends with Hanna when they were in fifth grade. Ever since then, we had all been pretty close; even with me being older than them. Spencer had a hard life growing up, which made her develop a tough exterior towards everyone around her. She only shows her kind and loving nature when people have really gained her trust.

By the time I leave The Brew and head over to the Grille, Hanna is already there and I'm exhausted. By the end of today I would have worked 15 hours, I am now glad that Evelyn came with me this morning. It was the only time I would have with her today, thanks to my waitresses being occupied. I feel like collapsing when I make my way to the counter, and Hanna hands me a sandwich and a drink. I hadn't realized that I have just been running off of just the coffee I had this morning with Evelyn.

"You know I can call Emily, and I'm sure she would be happy to pick up a shift." Hanna is refilling the two cups with iced tea as she speaks to me. She begins walking over to a table with an elderly couple that comes every day with their grandson. Its past 1 o'clock and the lunch rush won't start for another hour, so for now Hanna can handle the couple of people that are here by herself. I look back at the elderly couple with the little boy that reminds me of Evee, because both kids are in the same class. I wish I could have spent the day with Evelyn like I told her I would this morning. I also told her that we would talk to Emily today; well I guess I'm screwed because I lied to my daughter twice in one morning. "Although, I think that she had something to do today, because she wasn't in English." Hanna returns leaning over the counter to grab one of my French fries.

"I thought about calling her, but then I decided that I didn't want her to come in." I play with one of my fries and avert my eyes away from Hanna's gaze. Truth is, I didn't want Emily to come in because I didn't want to face her after what happened this morning. I didn't know what I would say for my blatant staring at her body. I know that she noticed me staring at her, because she ran out and covered herself the moment I came into the room.

"What is going on with you and Spencer? She's been acting weird all morning." I push the plate towards her with the other half of the sandwich and a few fries left. I lay my head on the counter as I try to relax. I feel Hanna pat the back of my head lightly and soon I no longer feel her presence there anymore.

I finish up my drink, and head over to the register to ring up some tickets Hanna has left on the counter. Tying my waist apron behind my back, I walk over to a tableful of college students taking their order. I look out the window to the town square to see Evelyn and Spencer running around. I love the way that Evelyn is with everyone she knows, and how she has an open heart to everyone. I guess I'm too caught up in watching my family through the window, because I don't even notice when Hanna walks up next to me. "Guess who came to your rescue?"

"What are you talking about Han?" I turn around to Hanna smiling from ear to ear. I walk past her to the back, but before I can get to the kitchen I see a startled Emily. "Emily?" So that's what Hanna was talking about, because she looks like she's ready to work with her uniform on. "You're off today, so why do you look like you're ready to work?" Since I met Emily I hadn't noticed her tattoos until this morning, and now I find myself wanting to see them again. I quickly turn to the register, ringing up a ticket to avoid staring at her like I did this morning. But even when I'm not looking at her, I still have her body engraved into my brain from earlier today. I rub the tension that's building up in the back of my neck, hoping that it will go away by the time I turn to face Emily. I turn to her because I hear no response from her when I see her hand bandaged up with a finger splint. I fight my urge to cradle her hand in mine in hopes to make her wound go away with my touch.

"It's not as bad as it looks, I went to the doctors today." Her words make my eyes snap away from her hand to her eyes, as she attempts to smile and hide the pain by tying her long raven colored hair up.

"I'm glad you went to the doctors 'cause last night it looked really bad. Wait, why are you here and not enjoying your day off and resting?" After I saw her hand last night, her bandages had been spotted with red where her knuckles are by the end of the night. I wanted to say something to her about it, because it had happen after her hearing what Spencer had said. Before I could, Evelyn had made her way over to her and I had just decided to leave it alone.

"I ran into Evelyn and Spencer. Evelyn seemed upset that you had to fill in for Jenna and that she couldn't spend the day with you. So I was going to propose a shift change." Of course Evelyn would be upset, and I'm not surprised she found her way to Emily. They seem to always run into each other, but I can tell Evee wants to spend more time with her. Much more then the few minutes she's been getting. Honestly, I wouldn't mind spending more time with Emily either.

"Are you sure you want to take my shift? I can just make it up to Evee a different day."I say as I lean my body off of the counter, and end up closer to Emily than I anticipated. I hear a gulp coming from her throat, and my stomach is doing flips as I see her eyes are trying to not look down. I smile at the fact that I'm making her nervous, and that I might have the same effect on her as she has on me.

"I'm sure. I don't really have a life so I can work whenever, but you have a daughter that really wants you to keep your promise to her. So go be with her." Without thinking, I embrace her in a tight hug, and I feel her warmth as she hesitantly hugs me back. The image of her burned into my mind is now going to be accompanied by the touch of her arms wrapped around me. I keep the hug going for as long as possible, but she eventually pulls away averting her eyes. "Um I should go take orders. Have fun with Evee and tell her she owes me." I feel my cheeks burn as embarrassment creeps up from me literally throwing myself on her.

"You're entering dangerous territory Paige." My eyes are focused on Emily as I sense Hanna next to me staring at her too.

"I know." I start to untie my waist apron while keeping my eyes on Emily as she is waiting on a table. "I'll see you at home, Han." I flash her a smile as she hands me my purse and my phone from the charger.

"See you." I walk towards the door finally taking my eyes off of Emily, and as soon as I leave the restaurant I pull out my phone to call Spencer. I head over to the Brew to meet Spencer and Evee and to pick up another coffee. Before I walk in, I pull my phone out again and scroll to my recent calls and begin to write out a text.

_**Hey Emily, it's Paige. Was wondering if you would meet me at the Brew tomorrow morning to talk? I really need to apologize for Spencer.**_

I smile as I save her number onto my phone, this morning I had looked at her application to get her number to see if she could work. After I let it ring once I decided I would just work for Jenna today. I sit down next to Spencer while Evee jumps into my arms and rests her head on my chest. Her porcelain smooth hands wrap around my neck and I hold her body closer to mine, reminding me of when she was a baby. It also reminded me that she slept on my chest for almost the first year of her life. I stoke her long light brown hair that runs along her back.

"So I heard you talked to Emily?" Spencer walks back handing me my coffee.

"Yeah I apologized to her." I almost spit my coffee out as I hear Spencer. I was talking to Evee but I guess since I wasn't looking towards the little girl, she thought I was talking to her. She falls back to the couch with her coffee and begins to fidget with her long fingers.

"I was actually talking to Evee, Spence. But thank you for apologizing to her." I see the usual pink tint of her creamy cheeks darken as I finish my sentence. She's avoiding making eye contact as she nods to acknowledge my words.

"Maybe I was wrong about Emily. She seems to care about Ev, and they get along like they've known each other since Ev was born." I can hear the sting in her words, going back to a memory of Spencer and Evelyn. I look down at Evee, and hear that her breath has evened out; I guess old habits die hard. Spencer and I head out of the cozy café after I finish my coffee, heading over to Spencer's car. So much for spending the day with Evee, she slept the majority of the day. I'll admit I stayed in bed with her and took a little nap. Usually Evee doesn't nap for so long, but I guess her lack of sleep last night really drained her. She wakes up in time for us to make dinner together, and then to play for an hour before settling down and watching some TV. We were waiting for Hanna to get home for Evee to say goodnight before heading to bed.

_Um ok. I'll see tomorrow, is 6 too early?_

_**Yeah that's fine. See you **_

I suddenly can't wait to go to work tomorrow, because Emily is all that I have been thinking about since this morning.

* * *

_**Beep. beep Beep.**_

I roll over in my sheets almost falling off my bed from underestimating how much room I had on my bed. I slam on the alarm turning it off and get up slowly as the sun attempts to makes its way through my deep purple curtains. I feel warmth coming from beside me and I feel around to a little body on the left side of my bed. I look under the tiny hill of my white with pink comforter to a sleeping Evelyn taking up almost the whole bed by sleeping diagonally. I smile at my daughter and kiss her on the forehead before making my way to the bathroom to wash my face and change before heading to work.

I walk out to the intoxicating wind that is hitting my face and inflaming my lungs with the crisp early morning air. I decide to walk to work because I always thought that this time of the day was the most beautiful. It was right at sunset when the sky was coming out of a deep blue color to a pinkish orange by the time I get to work. Before opening the door to the Brew I turn to see the sun peering up over the hills from the outskirts of town. Walking into the Brew I'm met with the cozy darkness that I have grown to love over the past four years. I turn on the multiple light switches that are around the café. I walk over to the kitchen to start making the muffins and start the oven to bake the scones and the croissants. Sometimes I feel like I put too much on myself with running both businesses, with making all the baked goods from scratch for the Brew and picking up extra shifts at the Grille. My mother owns the Grille but she was never around to oversee the business or even be a part of the decision making. I guess I would have to call her about it later because I can't keep working 15 hour days and not see my daughter.

"Hello? Paige are you here?" I smile as I'm adding the dry ingredients to the milky mixture. I look over my shoulder to get a view of the wall clock and she that she is very punctual, but I shouldn't have expected any less from her.

"I'm back here" I begin to pour more of the dry mixture into the mixer but am met with a cloud of flour. Losing my grip on the metal bowl I dumped all the flour into the mixer all at once causing flour to go everywhere.

"Baking looks fun." I turn to see a smirk on Emily's face as I go to wipe flour off of my clothes. She's wearing some loose fitted jeans that hang lower on one of her hips then the other with an NYU sweater covering her torso.

"It is, flour is also an amazing face mask. You should try it sometime." I grab a towel to wipe my face of the leftover flour and begin to place the muffin mixture into their respective tins. "So, I never got to apologize for what Spencer said the other day. I heard that she apologized yesterday but I just wanted to make sure there were no misunderstandings." Her smirk turns and she has a more serious face, as she thinks about what to say.

"Look I get it friends are protective of their friends. It must have been weird for Spencer to see Evee take to a stranger so easily. I can stay away from Evee if that's what you want." She puts her hands in her pockets and somewhat hunches over while still keeping her posture. I finish up two tins of muffins and walk to place them in the preheated oven and walk over to Emily.

"Follow me." I walk past her and I feel chills run down my spine as my hand brushes ever so slightly against her arm. She follows closely behind me to the opposite side of the café that has an entry way made up of orange and deep red curtains. I flip the switch in the lounge area, letting the orange light illuminate over two couches and long wooden coffee table that made up the small area. I sit on the couch and motion for Emily to sit as well. "Spencer, loves Evee so much. She wants her to be safe but I already had a talk with Spencer about it. Evee likes you, so staying away from her is not necessary. I don't think you will hurt Evee so I'm fine with her wanting to spend time with you."

"You and Spencer must be really close friends if she's this protective of Evee." Emily's posture looks more relax now that I have expressed how I felt about spending time with Evee. But now I'm confused? Does she not know that Spencer is my sister in law?

"Yeah you could say that. She's my sister-in-law." The look on Emily's face was priceless, I seriously thought that Hanna had told her about our crazy intertwined family. I couldn't help but let out a small laugh as Emily's jaw is still hanging open. "Let me get you some coffee. It looks like you need it to process some information." I walk over to the counter to make Emily her Americano coffee, after I check the scones and croissants taking them out of the oven while leaving the muffins a while longer. "Here you go." I hand her the coffee and return to my spot on the couch.

"That explains so much more. So Spencer's your husband's sister?" She takes a sip over her coffee and falls back to the tan color couch.

"Yeah I have three sister-in-laws. Spencer, Melissa and Allison, but I was friends with them before Jason and I got married." I take a sip of my coffee but then set it on the coffee table as I see her making circles around the opening of her coffee cup. "But I don't want to talk about me, you know more about me than I know about you. So did you transfer from NYU or a boyfriend goes there and just gave you the sweater?"I point down to her sweater as I ask the question. I tried to make my curiosity as subtle as possible, but I can tell that she catches on because she almost chokes on her coffee as I asked the question.

"No I don't have a boyfriend, never have ma'am. But it's kind of like a transfer, when I was in high school I took classes at NYU while I was doing my regular school work and in the summer. With my AP test scores and the college courses I had enough credits to transfer but then I went to the army. So I actually only have to take two years of school to get my bachelors degree." I'm pretty impressed with Emily, the amount of dedication that had to be put into that must had been very time consuming. But I guess it paid off for her at the end because she only had to complete two more years to be done.

"What's your major? And I find it hard to believe that you've never had a boyfriend."

"Child Development ma'am. I never really had time for boyfriends, besides growing up I wasn't like this." She gestures to her body and I feel myself tense and I allow myself to scan her body for what I think is an appropriate amount of time. "I was extremely awkward and guys had only wanted to be friends with me and didn't look at me in that way. I didn't care though; I wasn't interested in them either." Now it's my turn to choke on my coffee as I wasn't expecting that last part to come out of her mouth. I look up to meet her eyes but I'm met with her caramel color cheeks having a hint of red to them. "I didn't mean it like that." Her voice sounds a bit shaky as her eyes are still averted.

"Emily even if you did mean it like that. Its fine, I'm okay with it. So are Hanna, Evee and Aria." Her eyes finally rise as I finish but her eyes show that she is relieved by the information but is curious as to why we are all okay with that. "Spencer's gay, she came out when she was fifteen, so it's not like that big of a deal with us." Again her jaw drops as I reveal this shocking information to her. "I'll be right back; I have to check on the muffins." I leave Emily on the couch to soak in the information. I make my way back to the kitchen to see that the muffins are done and I take them out and put them in a cooling rack. I make my way back to Emily, who is sitting quietly on the couch, barely touching her coffee. "You okay?"

"There was someone… a girl." I wasn't expecting her to say that she was gay; I was trying to be nonjudgmental. But a part of me is happy that she does like girls...or at least at the possibility that she might.

* * *

**I know this isn't my best chapter guys but I'll make up for it in the upcoming chapters! Enjoy your weekend!**


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: Sorry it's taken me awhile to update this story. I thought that I would write more during my break but got caught up with other things. But I pulled off a chapter of this story and my other one TGWTS during break so again sorry for that. I'm started a new quarter today so i might not write as much as i want with a full course load so please bare with me for the next few weeks._

_**Guest**: Sorry you had to wait! but it's here now! Enjoy!_

_**go-sullivan**: They are very cute, aren't they! Yes Spencer is out and I'll mention more of that in the chapter 6._

_**PamyNovaes:** Spencer is gay and you might be possibly right about an attraction towards that character ;). Dr. Hastings is Melissa and she'll come out in the next chapter._

_**JOY:** Gracias por leer y gustar la historia. Por supuesto que va a seguir! Gracias otra vez! =) Hasta Luego!_

**_Del: _**_Evee is quite precious running around with Emily and you'll see more of that in this chapter. Dr Hastings is Melissa. Yes her reaction towards Emily and Evee being close is more than Spencer just being her aunt and you'll see in this chapter more about that. But you are absolutely right about your guess. So that is sort of a indirect answer to your question =) Yes Spencer is Gay and it makes me smile whenever i see a review that mentions that, because it means i'm doing a good job and still keeping people on their feet. I know Paige's feelings can be a bit confusing but in this chapter i make it clear about her feelings and sexual orientation. Hope you enjoy. Until next update._

_**MindFullofStories**: Hello there Lil. You're welcome, questions are always welcome.=) You are right about which sister the doctor is. And I know she's a bit confusing with her actions and her past but this chapter will hopefully help you come to a conclusion about Paige. Hope you Enjoy!_

_**saii79**: They are cute huh?! Well you don't have to wait long for another scene with them because there is plenty in this chapter. Yes it is important that both of them heal to move pass their past and esspecially Evee at such a young age. How Paige tries to hide her feelings while showing them makes me smile when I write because I think it's cute, so I'm glad you think that too. Paige will soon find out that the feeling is mutual. I'm glad you loved it and really enjoyed it. I hope you like/enjoy this update because I enjoyed writing it._

**_Yeuchc22: _**_Hello there! Spencer has something about her that can makes her have the potential to be huh? No you haven't mentioned it but she is isn't she? lol Emily in general makes my heart melt so her being formal = me as mush. Thank you for loving the story and everything about it. I know why you haven't reviewed and it's fine, it means a lot that you can take time out of your day to leave some words of encouragement for me. So thank you! Awe and thank you for naming me one of your fav authors! I hope you Enjoy the chapter. Until next review! Have a Good night/Day(I don't know what time it is there sooo..)_

_**dmpanda5**: Well you don't have to wait long. Here's alilttle more of their past! _

**_Nae10: _**_I'm glad you're falling in love with it more and hope that I can continue that feeling for you._

_Thank you for reading, following and reviewing this story! I really appreciate the positive feedback and reviews that I am getting. I response to and appreciate all reviews so thank you. Enjoy Chapter 5!_

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Chapter 5

** Emily's POV**

Whenever I'm around Paige I feel my heart accelerate, and I can't help but fixate on her whenever I'm near her. I don't know what I was thinking when I said what I said. But before I finished my sentence, I stopped myself from saying what I was actually thinking. She's listening intently, and waiting for me to finish. Her hair is pulled back again, but this morning her bangs are also put up; revealing her warm chocolate colored eyes. I zone in on a spot of flour that is on her jawline. I smile as I remember her face covered in flour when I first came in, and how I wanted to walk over and touch her face. I like Paige, as much as I don't want to admit it; I like her. I wish that I could say that this is the first time, but I can't. There was this girl back in basic training that I had grown close with, and we were put in the same squad for our first tour. I was the only one on squad that knew she was gay, and she wanted to keep it that way. I had never had a boyfriend or a crush, so I didn't know what liking someone felt like. For some reason I always felt the need to be around her though. A year into our tour and friendship, we kissed, which soon grew in a secret fling until a year later.

But I couldn't necessarily tell Paige that, especially if I have feelings towards her. I mean we've only known each other since the beginning of the week, and I already can't stop thinking about her. But I've already spoken the words and can't take them back.

"Um.. There was this girl on squad that had become my best friend, and she was gay so I don't have a problem with it either." I grab my coffee, and I see Paige look down at her hands. I notice her look at the silver and gold watch that is on her wrist. "I should go, I have go back to the apartment to get ready for school. I know that you must have more baking to do, so I'll leave so you can finish." She finally looks up at me, and I smile before I stand up to leave.

"I liked this." She motions between the two of us with her fingers, and I raise my eyebrow. I don't really know what to make of it. "Talking like this, I mean. There's no Spencer or Hanna to interrupt, and I can actually get to know you."

"Me too. It was nice." We start to walk out of the lounge area, and up to the counter. I pull out some money to pay for my coffee, and of course she doesn't take it so I leave it on the counter.

"Emily!" Before I reach the door I turn as I hear my name being called.

"Yes ma'am?" Before I can react I see a paper bag fly across the counter, and I reach out to catch it. I peek into the bag to see two strawberry scones that are still warm.

"You should stop by in the mornings more often so we can do this again." The smile on my face spreads as I see her smile. I like talking to her, and it was nice just the both of us talking. And if this is the closest I can get to her then I'll take it.

"So same time tomorrow then?" I say with a smile, as she nods with a huge grin. I wave bye, and thank her for the scones before walking out. As I walk down the street with the bag and coffee in my hand, I think about everything that Paige said. Spencer's gay; and Paige doesn't care. I'm actually surprised, because in these small towns you never know how people will react to homosexuality. She also said that Evelyn was fine with it too, which really makes me happy knowing that someone as small as Evee has learned that there is nothing wrong with being different.

I walk up the stairs to the second floor of my building, and walk into my lonely living room. My living room consists of low gray sofa with a matching footrest and two small tables on each side of the couch. I sit down and put my coffee on one of the side tables as I eat my scone. I pull out my phone and see that I still have 20 minutes, so I decide to call my mom since I missed her call yesterday. I put my legs up on the footrest, and lean back taking a sip of my coffee.

"Hi honey, how is everything going? You said you were going to call after you got settled in, it's been two weeks." I can hear the hurt in my mom's voice, as I have neglected to call her since I've moved here.

"I'm really sorry mom. The first week was hectic with trying to get used to everything. I really meant to call, but I just got a job a few days ago. So I've been pretty busy with that." My mom and I were always close growing up, and when I was overseas for the first year I use to call her every chance I got. Now that I'm back in states and not very far from her, I can't seem to get the chance to call her to ensure her that I'm okay.

"You got a job already? Honey that's great! How's school? Are the people friendly there?" The hurt in her voice is quickly forgotten as she begins to bombard me with questions, and it actually makes me smile because of how much she cares.

"School's great, I'm doing pretty well already. The majority of people here are friendly; I already have a few friends. That's actually how I got the job in the first place." I smile at the thought of the girls that I can proudly call my friends. I toss a piece of the scone into my mouth as I prepare for more questions from my mom.

"That's great sweetie. Please tell me that one of the friends you've met is a boy?" I feel my smile fall, and my chewing begin to slow down. As she goes on a rant about how I should start dating and find a nice man to settle down with, I just sink further and further into the couch. I start to rub my temples as she continues, and I take the phone off of my ear to see the time. I realize I should get going.

"Mom I really have to go. I have to start walking to Hollis, and I still need to change and gather my things." It takes a few seconds for her to realize that I have to go, and that I haven't really addressed her question. My mom and I were close, but I would never talk to her about my love life; whether it was with a girl or boy. Even though, both are non-existent at the moment. We both say bye, and I promise to call her soon so that we can talk for longer and discuss a possible visit.

I pack up my things in my messenger bag before heading out the front door with my coffee and my pastries. There is a mix of people walking around town at this time. It's mostly teenagers walking to the Brew, and mothers walking their small children to the nearby schools. I begin to make my way to the other side of town, so I can walk down the road to the college. Once I hit the nearby road I'm enclosed by silence. Every now and then I hear some cars zip by on the road; but for the most part it is silent.

I don't know if I can really consider myself gay, because I've never had a relationship with a man. Actually, I don't even know if you can call what Maddie and I had a relationship. I can still remember her kiss as if it was yesterday, but I also remember the things that came along with that kiss; things that I try to forget. Before the horrible memories take over, I hear a familiar voice pull me from the dark thoughts. I look around and I'm enclosed with the beautiful evergreens surrounding the campus. When I arrived on campus, I don't know, but when Hanna, Spencer and Aria approach me I'm sitting on the steps of the English building.

"Hey Emily." Hanna and Aria say in unison, as Spencer falls back focusing on her phone. Aria nudges Spencer in the ribs, making her show a tight smile towards me and a half wave. Hanna shoots her a look, and Spencer sighs before she regretfully greets me. I don't expect Spencer to like me, and I know that the only reason that she apologized to me was because Paige made her.

"Hello ladies." I stand up taking a sip of my coffee and inhaling the fresh air.

"I'm going to go get a muffin or something from the cafeteria. So I'll see you guys later." Spencer turns waving bye to all of us. I pull out the paper bag with the remaining scone and fall behind Spencer.

"Do you like scones?" She turns surprised, and nods her head while skeptically eyeing me as I hand her the bag. "Paige gave me two. They're huge; and I could only finish one, you can have it if you want it." I feel Hanna and Aria's eyes on me as they stay a few feet away, while observing our exchange. She looks at the bag again before hesitantly taking it from me.

"Thank you." We walk over to the other two girls, and I smile as I see the shocked faces of the two shorter girls. Spencer begins to eat the scone while Hanna, Aria and I talk on the steps of the building, passing time before class starts.

"So what happened with your hand?" I look down on the splint on my two fingers, then the wrapping around my knuckles down to my wrist. I had forgotten about my broken finger, and immediately pull my sweater sleeve down to cover the bandage.

"I broke a finger and have cuts on my knuckles…I punched a tree." I try to not look at them directly; but with three pairs of eyes on me now, it's hard to avert my gaze away from all of them. Spencer's eyes are carefully studying me as I try to figure out how to explain how it happened.

"Damn, that's bad ass!" Hanna laughs, causing a chain reaction between the other two girls and ending with a huge grin spreading across my face. Spencer is now laughing lightly, and it's nice to not have tension surrounding us. Spencer and Aria wave bye to both Hanna and I, as they walk toward the science and art buildings. Hanna and I walk up the concrete steps and pull the heavy green doors opens. "So can I ask you something?"

"Yes ma'am." Shit. I really have to stop being formal, but I guess old habits die hard. We continue to walk down the long brightly lit hallway until we reach our classroom.

"Want to hang out with me and Evee today? Since we don't work." She leads the way into the classroom and to the middle row. We take our seats and wait for the professor; and she waits for my answer.

"Is that okay with Paige?" Of course I want to hang out with the two girls, hanging out with people means less time alone with my dark thoughts. Hanna has a very vivid personality, and Evee is just so caring even at the young age of 4 years old. I feel normal when I'm with my newly found friends, and I know when I'm with those two they won't allow negative energy around.

"Of course she is." She says a matter of factly offering a smile, and turns her attention to her phone. The professor begins the class a few minutes late, and I draw my attention to the board in front of the class.

An hour later when class is over, Hanna and I agree to meet in front of the Science building after school before we go our separate ways. For the next three hours, I try to be calm and collective, but I end up being very giddy. I even think I jumped out of my seat when my last professor excused us. I speed walk out of the classroom, slinging my messenger bag over my head so that it crosses my chest and settles on my shoulder. I get to the stairs where I skip a step walking down and stumble on the last step; falling forward.

"I'm really sorry." I pick up my notebook and reach for my textbook; but I feel a hand under mine and instinctively retract my hand. I look up to see a pair of bright blue eyes and a small smile.

"It's fine; I should have watched where I was standing." He smiles as we both stand up, and I take my book from his hands as he offers it to me. He's a few inches taller than me, and his light brown hair against his ivory skin really brings out his blue eyes.

"Well, I was the one that ran into you, so I should be that one watching where I'm going. I'm Emily by the way. Sorry again." I extend my hand to him, and he does the same with a smile and the people that he was with begin to walk up the stairs.

"I'm Toby, and it's fine, I didn't mind." He flashes me a bright smile, and lets go of my hand. Half way up the stairs, his friends call him and he turns to look at them. "Nice to meet you Emily. Maybe I'll see you again."

I wave bye to him, and as I'm about to turn around I hear Hanna's voice.

"So you and Toby huh?" I can feel the blush creep up, and I try so hard to avoid Hanna from seeing but it's no use. "Oh my gosh, you are totally blushing."

"It's not what you think, I basically fell on him. I'm just embarrassed." It's the truth, I thought Toby was nice but I didn't feel any attraction to him. I was blushing because of the thought that I had been so excited to find Hanna; so that we could leave and meet Evelyn. I guess Hanna doesn't take my word for it, because she just rolls her eyes with a smirk. She links our arms together as pulls me to the parking lot. "Hanna, I'm serious. I don't like him."

"Yeah, I know Em." She stops and smiles at me over the hood of her silver Honda. I hear sincerity in her voice, and I know that she's not just waving me off; but that she believes me. Paige comes to my mind as I get into the car, and think about our talk this morning. I almost told her about Maddie, I've never told anyone about her; let alone someone I just met. I'm starting to like the fact that I am becoming close friends with girls. My friendship with Paige and Hanna had come so naturally; there wasn't any awkwardness. Not even now; we are driving to Evelyn's school sitting in a comfortable silence.

When we get to the preschool, Evelyn is sitting on the small brick wall with a few other kids. An older lady was standing near the kids greeting the parents that walked up. The other kids that were sitting on the bricks were a feet away from Evelyn, as she kept close to the teacher and to herself. The other kids were laughing and talking amongst each other, but Evelyn was focused on a piece of paper that she was holding. She also had a sad look in her face. Hanna and I walk up to the black open gate where the teacher greets Hanna by name, and gives me a warm greeting. Evelyn's head shoots up at the sound of our voices, and neatly folds the piece of paper and places it into her backpack before propelling herself off of the wall and into my chest.

"Hey Evee." She wraps her hands around my neck, as she knocks the wind out of me from being caught off guard. As she wraps her hands tighter, the weight of her body is being pressed up against my still tender chest. But I withstand the stinging, and hug the little girl tight against me.

"Hi Emmy!" I hear her muffled voice from her face being buried into my shoulder. She moves her head to look at me, and it feels like I'm seeing a different child then the one I was just looking at. Evelyn now has a huge smile on her face, and there is a sparkle in her big amber eyes.

"Um yeah, I'm here too Evee." Hanna tries to put a pouty face, but she just ends up laughing when Evelyn and I look at her.

"Sorry Auntie Hanna. Hi!" Evelyn holds her arms out towards Hanna, and I move closer so that she can go with Hanna.

"I forgive you squirt. Hey, do you think Emily can spend the WHOLE day with us?" We walk out the gate and head to the car, when Evelyn starts to jump in Hanna's arms at the question.

"Yes. Yes. Yes!" Even when she is in her booster seat, she is jumping up and down. Hanna parks near the Grille, and decides to pick up some food before heading over to the park. She tells us that she will meet us there, and Evelyn puts her hand in mine and we start to walk across the street to the park. When we get to the park, Evelyn pulls me towards the empty set of swings. I place her on the swing and begin to push her lightly. "Higher Emmy!" I laugh and push slightly harder so that she can go up higher, and my heart flutters when I hear the precious laugh coming from the little girl. "Emmy swing wid me!" I do as I'm told, and I begin to swing so that I'm in sync with the little girl. She lets one of her hands off the chain, and it immediately scares me.

"Evee be careful!" The little girl frowns a bit from the sudden change in my voice. But she reaches for my damaged hand, and we swing together.

"I okay Emmy. I gots you." She smiles at me, but I can see in her eyes that she's hurting. My heart breaks knowing that at 4 years old she already has something that's hurt her. I want to reach out and pull her close to me, because that's what I would want someone to do to me. Earlier when Evelyn hugged me, I felt like I had no worries in my past. Like everything was lifted from my shoulders with just a mere hug from this small girl, but I'm sure she didn't know that she did that for me.

"Lunch time!" Evelyn and I whip our heads to see Hanna with a big bag of food, and a tray of three drinks. Evelyn hops off of the swing as it slows down, and tugs at my arm to follow her. We race to the table that Hanna has settled into.

"Chicken strips for Evee. Extra Turkey and avocado sandwich for Em. And a veggie wrap for me. I also got regular and sweet potato fries. So dig in!" Evelyn tears into one of the chicken strips while sitting closely to me. I look down at the little girl in amazement as she's smiling at Hanna from across the table. "So Em, what did you do before you moved here?" Hanna hands me a drink from the tray, and I thank her after I swallow the bite of sandwich in my mouth. I take a deep breath before I speak but I'm interrupted.

"She was wid daddy!" Evelyn's tiny voice comes from under me, and Hanna looks at the both of us with a puzzled look. Evelyn is being nonchalant about it, and continues to nibble at her chicken strips.

"Um, she's kind of right." I let out a big sigh as I look from Evelyn to Hanna. "I was in the army for four years. Just came back to reality about 3 months ago, thanks to an injury." I take a sweet potato fry from the pile, and pop it into my mouth as I wait for Hanna to speak. I thought it would have taken me longer to tell Hanna about my previous occupation.

"Evee, how did you know Emily was in the army like your dad?" I look down at the girl, and ask myself the same question; but then realize the answer as I see the girl become timid and try to hide behind me.

"The other morning she saw my dogtags, I guess she just figured." I pull the chain from under my sweater to reveal them to Hanna. Hanna's eyes widen and her smile is no longer visible, and worry takes over her stare. Out of the corner of my eye I see Evelyn shaking her head.

"I saw them the first day I seen you. Look we twins." I look down towards the little girl, and she holds up her necklace with a dogtag hanging. Now I understand why she holds on to it like her life depended on it. I smile at her weakly, and she wraps her fingers over the dogtags and holds it close to her chest as she reaches for a fry.

"You miss your dad huh?" I lean over her and pick a few fries, and put them in front of her.

"Yes, but he's okay in heaven now." I look down in shame. "Auntie Hanna I done. Can I go to the slide?" Hanna nods slowly as she looks down at the table trying to avoid eye contact with me. Evelyn wiggles under the table, and runs to the slide that's adjacent to the table where we could keep an eye on her.

"Hanna I'm sorry, I didn't know. I just thought that Evelyn's dad was still on tour. I didn't know that he had passed away…"

"Yeah. He passed away last year. Evelyn and Paige were devastated after it happened. Ev hasn't really been the same since. Before she was really outgoing with the other kids in her daycare but after Jason died, she has been different. Actually the only time I've seen her like how she was with Jason is when...well when she's with you." She picks at a fry and isn't looking at me, but looking over to the side to see Evelyn climbing up the ladder to the slide. I now notice that she isn't playing with the other kids around the slide. Then I remember back at the school where she separated herself from the group of kids in her class. I never saw Evelyn play with other kids, I always saw her with adults.

"No one that young should have to go through that kind of loss. I kind of understand how she feels." My eyes are on the little girl as she runs up the steps leading to the slide with a small smile on her face, and she waves to us from the top of the slide. God, she looked so much like Paige with her smile, and the way she looked at me.

"She's been through a lot, but she's strong. But look at who her mom is. Paige has been strong for Evee, but there were times where she couldn't be there for her because she couldn't even handle it herself." Hanna's eyes regretfully peel away from Evelyn, and I can see her eyes become glossy. I feel terrible for even bringing it up, and causing a sad atmosphere around the girls. "Thank you Emily." My eyes shoot up to her, and she wipes her eyes of the loose tears that broke through her barrier.

"For what Han?" I'm really confused. Our afternoon started off great, and with all of us getting along, and now Hanna's crying but thanking me even though I'm the source if her tears.

"You are the person that is making her happy again. Spence, Aria, Ali, Melissa and me have all tried to make Evee happy after Jason died, but obviously she has a connection with you; and that's from four days of knowing you.

"She makes me happy too. Spending time with you guys actually helps me forget about everything. Talking with Paige also helps with that too." I blush at the thought of Paige and move my head down.

"I can tell. You smile way more now than when I used to see you in class and around town before you started working at the Grille. I can tell you're more confident in yourself now. You know, I think you're even more badass now that I know you were in the army. That punch to the tree must have been nothing compared to combat in Iraq." She takes a bite of her wrap, and in return it makes my stomach growl taking that as a cue to eat some more fries. We keep an eye on Evelyn as she plays with a huge tic tac toe puzzle on one of the walls. I finish the rest of my sandwich, and Hanna decides that we should walk back to the car and head over to their house to watch a movie.

We get to the house, and Evelyn runs to the front door jumping up and down. She waved for us to come over, and calls for us to hurry. I can't believe that she isn't always like this. We walk up to the beige colored two story house with a white trim. The house is quite beautiful with the garden surrounding the steps leading up to the porch. I can't really make out what kind of flowers are in the garden, but the assortment of color looks amazing against the white porch railing. I'm not use to these big houses, since I've always leaved in the city in either an apartment or condo. I've never actually lived in a house. Even here in Rosewood, my apartment is in the heart of the town, and this is the first time I've seen the residential area of town. On the way over here, I was looking out the window to the line of houses that look out of a suburbia movie. This town was different then what I'm used to, but it is a good thing because it feels more like home than New York ever did.

* * *

**Paige's POV**

I finish my shift at the Brew, leaving Andrew and Aria to take care of the place and close. I check in at the Grille, and to my surprise I see Shana and Jenna waiting on tables. One of these girls always calls in sick or with an excuse to not come into work, so the fact that they are both here makes me leave the Grille in a good mood. I'm walking home, when I get a phone call from Hanna saying that Emily was at the house. This makes me move a bit faster towards the house. After this morning when I mistook her as almost coming out, I've just been thinking about her way more. I wish that I could say that this is the first time I've felt this way towards a girl but it's not. I've had these feelings towards another girl in high school before I dated Jason. But after being with Jason for years, I didn't think that the feelings would surface again. I guess I was just being naïve.

I look at my clock, and see that it's almost 8. I walk into a house smelling of pizza, and before my mind can catch up to my body, my legs walk towards the source of the smell to the kitchen. I take a piece of pizza, and walk into the living room to see a sleeping Evee and Emily on the oversize couch. Hanna comes from the hall, and looks down at the two girls. Evee is nestled on Emily's side with her head on Emily's stomach. Emily's left hand is wrapped around Evee's back, holding her protectively against her and her other wrapped hand is hanging off the couch.

I smile as I take another bite of the pizza while looking down at the two. I look over at Hanna, and it looks like she's holding on to something and nods her head towards the kitchen. I fall behind Hanna as we cross through the archway to the gray kitchen. Hanna pulls herself onto the island where the pizza box is and begins to cut a piece of a pizza off. I hoist myself onto the white countertop across from her, so we are on each side of the pizza box.

"How did that happen?" I motion over to the living room, and Hanna tips another piece off and pops it into her mouth.

"I invited her to hang with me and Evee today. We were at the park, ate lunch there, and then we came here to watch movies. Emily paid for some pizzas, and then next thing you know they are sleeping," Hanna lets out a lighthearted chuckle, but then it quickly faded. "Ev told Emily about Jason." My chewing stops and I swallow hard as I look up at Hanna who is watching me intently. "You should have seen them together today Paige... It was like Jason was still here. I hadn't seen her laugh like how she did today in almost a year. "

_ Jason and Evelyn were running around the backyard on a summer night when I came home from the Grille. When I came back outside from getting something to eat, I see that they were no longer running around but lying on the grass looking up at the stars. They were both lying with their hands behind their heads. Jason points up to the sky and tells her a story about how all the stars will always be there to keep her safe in the dark. A few weeks before Evee had ran into mine and Jason's room after the power had gone out. So Jason had carried her outside where the stars were illuminating the sky. He sat down on our patio swing, and rocked her until she fell asleep under the stairs. From that night on, they would sit in the backyard and just look up at the sky. _

_ But tonight, there is no fear of darkness, and there isn't any tears. There was laughing from both of the people I love. Their laughter is like music to my ears. Even though Evee is small, I can hear her over Jason and her beaming smile is visible thanks the night glow. _

_ When she finally fell asleep, Jason carried her to our room and I ran upstairs to fix the bed. He laid her down in the middle of the bed, and I went downstairs to clean up a little bit. After locking up all the doors I head back upstairs, where I find a snoring Jason with Evee cuddled up next to him with her arm sprawled across his bare chest._

_ I stare at them both wishing that I could go to sleep and wake up to that everyday. That little girl has been the best part of my life. Being able to wake up to the angelic face is the reason for me to endure all the struggles that I go through every day. The struggles of basically being a single mom, and wishing that Jason wasn't in the army to be here with Evelyn everyday instead of one month out of every year. This was going to be our last night with Jason, before he left in the morning for another tour._

_ A few weeks later, there was a knock on door and two officers with a letter and folded flag. I guess I got my wish of Jason not being in the army anymore._

"I can see why you like her." Hanna's voice breaks through my flashback, and I shake my head in hopes of leaving it behind. My eyes finally focus on Hanna, and I see a smirk on her face as she averts her eyes.

"I like her because she is nice to talk to and she's good with Evee, Han." I blush and bury my face in my hands. I smile just thinking about Evee laughing like that again, and Emily being the cause of it. This makes her even more attractive to me. "I don't know what I'm doing Han, I like her; but I don't know her feelings and I don't know how Evee will feel about it after Jason…"

"Uh Paige didn't you just hear me? Evee LOVES Emily so that's shouldn't be a problem. And Paige, I know that you loved Jason and he's Evee's dad; but it's been a year. I think he would want you to be happy. The both of you deserve that, after everything that happened. I think she likes you though." Hanna leans back on the counter as she finishes talking. I feel some sort of hope, of something happening between Emily and me. I think about the nervousness that Emily felt when I was close to her at the Grille yesterday, and how she always seems to blush. I thought that I was just overthinking everything, but now I don't feel as crazy with some confirmation from Hanna. "So, did you know that she just got back from the army?" I nod and smile at her.

"That's why me and Spencer have been acting weird lately. She thinks that Emily is just going to leave Evee, and that I shouldn't let her near Evee." I hop off of the island counter and grab the empty pizza boxes. I bring them to the recycle bin just outside the kitchen side door.

"Yeah, that's really why Paige." She rolls her eyes and hops off the counter as well, and makes her way to the fridge. "I'm telling you it's obvious. Emily likes you. Spencer, Aria and I can see it, and that's why Spence doesn't like Emily; because she still likes you." I rest my head on the countertop as I realize that's probably why. I thought that I had already made it clear that nothing could happen, but I guess I couldn't erase her feelings for me.

"Hanna don't get involved in this okay. I trust you, and that's why you are the only one that knows about Alyssa in high school."

"Yeah I know P, I'm not going to tell anyone about it, but maybe you should tell Emily. I think you made it pretty obvious that you like her, since your eyes basically undress her every time you two are in the same room." My head shoots up in mock horror, and I begin to chase her. She skids across the island countertop to cut behind me, and runs out to the living room. We haven't had one of these chases in a long time, since we are always tired from either working or watching Evee all day.

I'm not far behind Hanna when she jumps over the couch, and swoops up Evee with a smirk. And before I can stop, I crash into the couch making my torso drape over the front of the couch. When I move my head up, I'm face to face with a groggy Emily. I turn towards Hanna who's walking up the stairs with Evee, as she mouths 'you're welcome'. Soothing the little girl and patting her back. When I look back at Emily, we are closer and Emily's eyes are wide. My eyes focus on her lips and I can feel her breath graze my neck. Neither of us moves and I feel like if I do, it will be towards her lips and don't want to risk anything. She finally clears her throat and moves away from me so that she is standing up.

"Hey. Sorry I fell asleep, I didn't mean to overstay my welcome." She fixes the couch and grabs her bag making her way towards the door. I quickly follow her and touch her shoulder lightly.

"You don't have to go. We actually weren't going to wake you up, but I'm a major klutz and crashed into the couch. You can stay over if you want. We have a guest room that's much more comfortable than this couch. Evelyn doesn't have school tomorrow, so I'm sure she'll be happy to see you in the morning." I see a smile start to form on her lips and my heart melts. I move towards her with my hands in my pockets, and my eyes on the floor so I can hide my blush. "Unless you're tired of us already?" I bring my head up with a smile, and look at her as she shakes her head while letting out a small laugh.

"No, not at all. It's better to be here with all of you, than in my apartment by myself. " She has a weak smile and there's something in her eyes that's haunting. Just a few minutes ago, her eyes were a warm chocolate brown but now they look are black holes. I feel myself getting lost in the dark look she has, and it seems like she's holding something back.

"So it's settled then, you'll spend the night." I grab her hand and lead her up the hardwood stairs. Her hands are semi rough, but that's expected after coming back from war. The warmth of her hand feels very nice on mine. I wonder how her hands would feel on other parts of my body. I open the door to the guest room to reveal the pastel blue room. "I know what it's like to be alone, sometimes it's nice to just try and forget about your problems."

"How did you know I was trying to forget about my problems? Or that I even have problems to deal with?" Emily walks into the room sheepishly with her arms crossed, and sits on the window seat that's on the opposite side of the room. Her voice seems a bit shaky and it looks like she is holding herself tighter.

"It's all in your eyes Emily. Jason had that same look everytime he came back. I also had it for a while too." My shoulders slump as I walk over to where Emily is, and I lean against the wall by the window seat. I want to keep some distance from Emily; I don't know if I could stand being close to her and not have an urge to kiss her or touch her.

"I'm sorry for your loss Paige. Hanna told me today after I asked Evelyn if she missed her dad, but I didn't know…" I see her fidget with her fingers as she speaks, taking in one of her nervous habits.

"Emily it's fine. I've explained death to Evelyn and why her dad's not here. It wasn't easy for her to understand, but she's better with it now."

"She's strong, just like her mom." She smiles up at me now, and I blush at her beautiful smile. I take my chances and decide to sit next to her on the window seat, and I see that her eyes move up to meet my eyes.

"Well thank you. But I'm not as strong as you think." I rest my hand on top of her bandaged hand that's resting on her jeans. Her eyes move down to our hands, and the heat from her touch makes me feel like I'm on fire. I haven't felt this way about any girl since Alyssa, but even with her it wasn't as strong as what I'm feeling for Emily. I wish that I was strong enough to resist these feelings towards Emily. I wish that I could stop myself from kissing her.


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N**: Hello all! I am terribly sorry that it has taken me me this long to update this story and even longer for my other one(for those who read both.) University is kicking my ass this Quarter and I only have time to write in between classes on my phone. So please forgiving me and I hope you guys are not getting bored with this story. I promise more Paily interaction will come up in the next chapter and the ones after that. I'm Just trying to lay out everything that is in my head for this story. So I hope that you guys continue to like and read the story._

_**Del:** I'm glad that I can make it alittle easier for you to understand. Yes evelyn is adorable, everyone seems too love her and that makes me happy, it means that I describing her well enough that they can see her actions and that's great to know. There is be more Spencer and how she will react to both Paige and Emily and even Evelyn. She has kindof soften a bit with the breakfast offering but Spencer will always be Spencer. Yes Hanna is amazing and she's in this chapter with more of her awesomeness. She seems to have a Sixth sense for this kinda thing, or she's just more observant than others. I'm So Sorry for keeping you hanging and the suspense in the air for almost a month. I never intended to take this long for this update when I wrote the ending to chapter 5. Hope to hear from you. Until next update._

_**go-sullivan:** Thank you! I haven't forgotten about Ali but she is not in this chapter. And well you guessed right she still does._

_**StagHen**: Thank you so much, it really means a lot. I'm glad you like the interaction between them. There is another scene in here with them. I'll get into Spencer's backstory more in future chapters but I promise it will be written because I can't just though that in there and not explain it. But indeed it makes you feel for Spencer because loving someone whose going to be in your life constantly doesn't love you back. Saddens me now that i think more about it. Hanna is great right? haha i loved writing that scene i was smiling like an idiot while writing it. Until next update._

_**Ms**: Thank you! I tried to get this chapter up sooner but it just didn't work that way so my apologies! Hope you enjoy =)._

_**dmpanda5**: Thank you so much and more about Spencer and why she's that way in future chapters. Until next update!_

_**saii79:** Ildi!** Happy birthday!**(It's still your birthday in California lol.) This chapter is for you! Awe i didn't mean to make you cry! But yes i loved writing those scenes and can't wait to write more of them. There's a simliar park scene in this chapter and Paige is there so hope you like it. Oh my god i can't get over how much you liked the last chapter. I read your review the next morning, I was just smiling. So thank you for that. Hanna is a good mix of both traits right? i didn't want to make her completely like how she is portrayed on the show but she still has it in her. She is super supportive of Paige, exactly how a sister should be. Well if i could i would have made the last chapter for you because this one isn't very good but i sad cannot. I hope you enjoy and had a good birthday!_

_**Jazidr:** Well thank you for your kind words! I'm glad your a fan! Sorry for the wait tho._

_**Yeuchc22:** Many people had their suspensions about Spencer's feelings so I just had to confirm. lol. Well it's always a pleasure to write to so I'm glad you are enjoying it. I will go more into both Paige's past in the next chapter as well as Emily dealing with her PSTD. Theres a scene in this chapter that shows Emily's vulnerability but I'll go into more detail in a the future chapters. Hope you have a day/night!(Its nighttime in Cali soo..lol)Until next review!_

_**MindFullofStories**:Yeah made that flashback just for you Lil! And I know their love is so blind. I even get frustrated and I'm the one writing . I had to put the window seat.. I mean it is Paily. Hope you enjoy and until next chapter!_

_**Nae10: **Ahh.. I had to end it like that! I have to keep you guys on your toes. Many people really loved the last chapter i'm so happy you loved all those scenes! Because i really enjoy writing them and hearing your guys opinions. I'm sorry it took so long i know you said you couldn't wait..=/ Hope you Enjoy._

Thank you to all the new readers for taking the time out to try this story out. Thank your the Follows,favorites, and reviews i appreciate it and it means alot. If you have something that you want to see in the story I read all reviews and try to incorporate your suggestions into the story. But enough of that. Enjoy the long awaited Chapter 6!

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Chapter 6

**Emily's POV**

"Mommy I can't sleep."The little girl runs into the room stopping in front of Paige and me, and just looks in-between us with a smile before reaching up to her mom. I move away subconsciously, and my cheeks begin to burn at the thought of kissing Paige. Was I dreaming? What just happened? Or what almost happened? I had to be dreaming right? Why would Paige want to kiss me? I mean she had a kid with a guy that she had been with since high school; she couldn't like girls, right?

Paige picks up the little girl and places her on her lap. She rubs her eyes and leans into Paige's chest while twirling a piece of her moms auburn hair in-between her tiny fingers.

"Um, well I should probably get us both to bed." She holds up the little girl, and Evelyn's eyes are half closed; but when Paige stands up she jerks up from her mom's arms. Paige and I share a panicked look as the sudden movement catches us off guard. When Evelyn smiles, my body begins to relax.

"Goodnight Evee." I offer a warm smile to the little girl who was not too long ago cuddled up next to me. I'm caught off guard when Evelyn jumps from her mom's arms ,and gives me a hug. I then look up at Paige, who is looking at me in admiration. "I'll see you tomorrow don't worry." Evelyn smiles in satisfaction as she worms her way into the arms of the woman I wish I could touch in the same way.

As I'm sitting in the now lonely room staring at the moon, I think about what just happened. I think Paige and I almost kissed, but I think it's just my imagination getting the better of me. But then again what would have happened if Evelyn wouldn't have walk into the room? I lightly trace over the bandage in hopes of keeping the sensation I had when Paige's hand was on top of mine. But the warmth of her hand was quickly taken away from me when Evelyn ran in.

_When I first arrived to their house, Evee had dragged me upstairs to go see her room. I admit, I was expecting a pink princess room with dolls everywhere; and maybe even a tea table set up. But when I walk in, I stop in the middle of the room to take in the colors. Her room was a mix of different blues, each wall was a different shade but the transitions from one color to the next are very subtle. After looking at all the walls, I finally realize that they were painted like a sky. Each wall was a different part of the day. The wall directly across from her bed was the lightest of blues with a few white clouds. Before the light blue reached the next wall, it was starting to turn a brighter blue and carried onto the next wall. The royal blue color had more clouds surrounding the right side of the window. The left side of the window was the point where the next blue transition occurred. Past that point, the royal blue became the outline of the horizon while a navy blue color became the sky with pastel yellow stars reaching from the window to the wall where her bed is. The pastel stars are placed right above her bed, as if they were looking down upon her or looking after her. Finally, the wall where the door lies, is where the navy blue begins to blend with an assormentt of pink and yellows and it's as if I'm looking at an actual sunrise with the ways the three colors are blended perfectly. I spin around the room in amazement with this work of art, that I don't realize that Evelyn is smiling at me. _

_ "You likes it?" I can't help but spin around again but more slowly, and when I reach the bed I see a bouncing Evelyn._

_ "I love it. Be careful though, I don't want you to fall." This little girl will be the death of me, her just taking the wrong step makes me nervous. I move closer to the bed just in case, so I can catch her if she were to fall. She stops jumping after she sees the concerned look on my face and reaches for me. _

_ "I tolds you I gots you. I good." She touches my forehead where my eyebrows are furrowed, and tries to smooth them out lightly. "This make you happy" She suddenly jumps off the bed and turns off the light. She runs to the window to close the curtains and back to me to hold my hand as the room is now illuminated by stars surrounding the room. I guess the stars that I had seen painted on earlier were with glow in the dark paint because the wall with her bed had the most. "Mommy did it. Do it make you happy?" _

_ "Yeah it's beautiful." I feel her hand slip into mine as she looks around the room with me for what seems like hours, but was probably only ten minutes._

_ "You sees this movie?" I feel her tugging at my shirt and when I look down she hands me a DVD box. She leads me away from her room and back down the stairs, as I'm left looking back at the room wishing that I could look at the art for just a bit longer until it suddenly disappears._

I wake up in a panic when I hear a thunk sound, and fall off the bed landing on my bad hand. I ball up my fists in pain and immediately slam my good fist into the bed out of frustration. I feel a stinging feeling coming from my eyes, and a pounding sensation coming from the wounded hand. I try to hold back my tears when I look up at a window seat. I look around the room and remember that I'm not in my apartment, but in Paige's guest room. Untangling my feet from the white sheets, I hear the sound once more and lose my footing falling onto the floor; again.

"What the hell? Emily? Are you okay?" The blonde was at my side and helps me up by taking the white sheet away from my tangled legs. She looks at me with concern and confusion at the same time. I see the icy blue eyes stare at me, and then I realize that Hanna looks like she just stepped out of a magazine. The thunk happens again, but this time I don't fall to the floor; I just jump up. Hanna raises her eyebrow at me, but looks around the room and her eyes fall to the window. "It's just a branch hitting the window. I told Paige we should trim that tree but she doesn't listen to me." I follow her gaze, and sure enough with the morning wind the branch hits the window again, this time I only wince at the sound. "I didn't know you were spending the night. When I heard the noise I thought Evelyn had fallen or drop something." I rub the back of my neck trying to push back the heat of my cheeks.

"Yeah Paige said it was alright. I hope it was okay with you too? Sorry for making you worry about Evee, I guess I was having a bad dream." I pick up the comforter and begin to make the bed.

"Duh it's fine. I wish I would have known you were here 'cause then we could have invited Aria and kept Evee awake to have a girls night." I smile at Hanna. I bend down to pick up one of the pillows from the floor when I hear Hanna lay down on the bed. She pats the open space next to her for me to sit down. I sit up against the headboard next to Hanna, who is looking very sheepish just looking down at her hands, as if she is nervous. "So is it hard being back?" I rub my bad hand as I take a minute to compose my answer.

"Yeah it's pretty hard. You know how you've seen a few of my freak outs? Well..."I look down and fidget with the lining of the gray pillow case for a few minutes. I really hate that I always go back to this, I'm proud of being a soldier but still when I have my moments I feel weak. I feel Hanna's hand cover mine, and I look up to an encouraging smile. In the process of me taking a deep breath I feel Hanna squeeze my left hand gently, encouraging me to continue. "When I lived in New York those were more frequent. I actually wouldn't leave our condo during the day. The only time I would leave was in the middle of the night when no one was around. During the day there was just so many people and noises/triggers, I couldn't handle it. That's why I moved here, it's quiet, well for the most part."

"I know you live in town and it can get pretty loud with the high schoolers right there. So you can always stay here Em. You know, you're pretty great. You fought to protect people and even now when you have your own issues to worry about, you put others before yourself. I know that it must have been hard in New York but now you have Evelyn, Aria, Paige and me to lean on and help you. Soon you'll have Spencer too she just takes some time to warm up." We both smile at each other and I feel my cheeks burn and my eyes sting. I've never had a group of people that cared about me before, well besides my family. I was never the popular girl in school and I was always awkward in social situations. But I made a few close friends in the army that I still keep in touch with. Hanna and I talk more and get to know each other better.

She ends up telling me that a few years ago, she was a party/it girl at her school but eventually had to grow up to be there for Paige and Evelyn. When I first met Hanna, I didn't think she would be as mellow as she is. I actually thought that she would be rude, especially after I made her knock over cups the first day at the Grille. She dresses like she's going to a photo shoot whenever we are not at work, like how all the girls use to dress at my high school. But Hanna wasn't snobby or rude to me. I guess when Evelyn was born she had calmed down a little but after Jason died that's when reality kicked in. She wanted to be a better example for her niece so she turned herself around, and so far she's doing a great job of it. Evelyn is really lucky to have all these people around her that love and care for her so much that they would better themselves for her. I know when I'm around Evelyn and Paige I want to be better for them.

"Hey Hanna what time is it?" I ask after a while of just laying down in silence. Hanna's texting on her phone and I notice that she stops mid-text to check the time.

"It's 10am. Do you have to go?" Hanna pouts as she asks her question which makes me smile.

"I should go home to shower and change my bandages." I lift up my right hand to emphasize my point with a small smile. "But we can meet up later if you want. I told Evee last night that I would see her today." Hanna perks up on the bed suddenly with a huge smile.

"Yeah we should meet up at the park again. Evee will be excited, so we will see you around 1." She gets off the bed as I was making my way to the window seat where my shoes and sweater are. She skips out of the room with a devilish smile that leaves me shaking my head with a smile as I tie my shoes. Yeah, Hanna was one of a kind. I let her leave the room without any protest, because she just made it easier. Instead of awkwardly discussing the time to meet up it was just simple and to the point. I walk down the stairs and Hanna is sitting on the couch looking at a magazine, but when she hears me she gets up. I grab my bag and give Hanna a hug before I leave the house and walk down the quiet suburban streets back to town.

I get to my apartment and drop the keys in the bowl by the door, as I fling my bag to the couch in the center of the room. I head over to the shower and begin to undress and step into the warm water. My mind goes back to last night as I think of Paige's lips. They were so close to mine that moving forward just an inch would have made our lips touch. The water drips down my face and I move my fingers to my lips as I try to recreate the sensation I felt last night. I wanted to kiss her and I think she wanted to kiss me too. Fuck. I have to stop thinking about my feelings for Paige. I turn the water from a comfortable warm temperature to an icy cold as my thoughts of Paige are starting to build a warm sensation in my lower abdominal area. The cold shower isn't helping with the sensation building up and I begin to move my hand from my neck down past my stomach when I jump at the sound of my phone. I shut the water off, and the tension that was built up is now gone and replaced when embarrassment as I stumble out of the shower and race to my phone as it rings again.

"Hello?" I say out of breath as I click on the accept button. I didn't recognize the number but last time I saw an unfamiliar it was Paige.

"Good morning. May I speak with Corporal Fields?" I look at the phone as I wrap the towel around my damp body. I haven't heard anyone call me that since I left the hospital in Iraq. I never wanted to think of myself as a higher ranking than the rest of my squad, since I had been promoted within two years after I had finished my basic training. But a part of me knew that I was always criticized for being so young, and moving up in rankings quickly.

"This is she. May I ask who is calling?" I walk back to the bathroom to grab a second towel for my hair. I put the phone on speaker as I dry my hair and pat down my shoulders while still waiting for an answer from the other line.

"Well you may ask, but may not get an answer." I can hear a smile in the person's voice and I immediately smile and pick up the phone, taking it off speaker.

"Tris? Is that you?" I jump up and the towel almost falls. I smile as I readjust the towel by tucking in a piece inside.

"M&M did you miss me already? I heard you were going to Hollis, you know I don't live far from there." I had totally forgotten that Tristen had lived near here, even though he's part of the reason that I picked Hollis. He had told me that the school was very small, and that the town that it was in, was quiet.

"Yeah I'm at Hollis, wait how did you know I was at Hollis and how did you get this number?" I walk to my bedroom and head to the closet to pick the only pair of jeans that are hanging and a dark blue long sleeve shirt.

"Your mom. Let's just say she was very… eager to hand over your number." I hear his brilliant laugh, and I sit on my bed with the towel still clung to me. My damp hair begins to stick to my bare back. "So I take it she doesn't know about Maddie and you? Or that you exclusively like girls?" Even with Tristen not here as he talks, I can see the crinkle on his forehead.

"I can believe that, and no she doesn't know about Maddie. Tris, you know how I feel about…" I start but soon cut off by Tristen.

"Yeah, yeah. You've never been with a guy yada yada, I've heard you say that so many times in the last three years. You know, you just tell yourself excuses so that you don't have to admit who you really are to yourself. Anyway enough about that, since you will have plenty of time to tell me about it when I visit you tomorrow." I can just picture the smirk on his face as I finally process what he just said. When we were in basic training together we barely spoke, but I guess that's because I was so caught up with Maddie to realize anyone else. But ever since that fateful night on base, he's always been there for me. I think the reason we are so close is because he's been the only one to know me before I even figure out.

"I work tomorrow. Wait hold on, you're coming to Rosewood?" I grab my boy shorts and slip them on before dropping my towel to the floor to attempt putting on my bra with one hand.

"You work? Good for you M&M. Well where do you work? I'll just check it out. You can try and come up with an excuse but you know, you will see me sooner or later. So maybe today is better for you." I groan out of frustration of not being able to hook my bra, and the fact that Tris wasn't dropping coming to visit.

"First can you stop calling me M&M? Second, I have to call you back because I was getting out of the shower when you called and I'm kind of naked, so.."

"Okay, okay enough information. Now I'm picturing you naked Em. Thank you very much. Call later or else." I can tell that he was trying to hold back a smile just by the way he said his so-called threat. I know that it's empty, and that he wouldn't do anything so I just laugh him off as I say bye to him. I did miss him, I hadn't talk to him since they sent me home. Tristen was the first phone call I made when I came back to New York. I'll make sure to call him later, as well as my mom to give her an earful of not just giving my number out to anyone. But for now, I have to get dressed and head to the store to pick up some things for Tristen's visit. I still had time before I had to meet Evee and Hanna. Today is looking to be a good day already.

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**Paige's POV**

"Hanna you know I have to do paperwork at the Grille today. I don't have time to go out for lunch."

"Paige." My sister's voice stops my brain from continuing to argue with her because I know I will not win a fight against her. God I really needed to relax. I can't believe that I'm saying I'm too busy to take an hour out of working to eat lunch with my sister and daughter. This is why I love Hanna, and why we were so great with each other growing up. We somehow always calmed each other down when the other was being dramatic. When we were younger, it seemed like it was always me trying to get her to stop being so dramatic but lately I'm the one that's been over the top and irrational. "Meet us at the park in an hour. You can take some time to eat and spend time with your family. The paperwork will still be there I promise you."

"Fiiine I'll bring some food over in an hour." I hear Hanna clap and squeal over the phone and I immediately hold the phone away from me. Something is up with her but I can't quite put my finger on it. Frankly I have too much to think about, that I don't even try to figure out what's going on. "Han I have to go. See you later." I hang up the phone before heading back to the front to restock the coffee mugs and while Andrew and Aria are making the coffee orders.

Usually business picks up on Fridays with the college students not having classes, but today its semi slow. I walk to the lounge with my folder of paperwork and my phone, as I begin to make calls and sign checks. Aria comes over and sets down a coffee cup as I am signing paychecks for the Grille employees, and I suddenly feel a vibration in my pocket.

"Well it's about time I heard from you. How was Europe Haley?" I roll my eyes as I continue scribbling my signature on the pieces of paper.

"Sweetheart it was great, it was so beautiful and I wish you could have been there, you and Evee." I guess she doesn't pick up on the 'I could care less' tone because she continues to go on and on about her trip. Talking about the views and how amazing the food was, and how she even met a man that travelled with her the entire way. I was quickly losing interest in this conversation.

"Well, I would love to hear more about your trip, but let me ask you this: When are you coming back? You've been gone for 8 months and I need help with the Grille." I love her, and I think I was the only one that supported her when she first started the Grille, but leaving for several months and naming me the boss was getting really old.

"I'm already in Rosewood, did you think I would miss Evee's birthday? Or Ja..." There is a hint of excitement in her voice, but I can tell she's trying to cover it up and it hits a nerve with me.

"Mom." I stop her before she can even have the chance to finish. Because she had no right to bring up Jason. Not after leaving when I needed my mother the most. But I guess I should have never expected more of her. After the divorce Hanna's mom, Ashley, was more like a mother to me and was always there for me when I needed it. "Can you just come to the Grille tomorrow? We need to talk."

"Yes we do need to talk. Honey you know I love you and I adore Evee. I'll talk to you later sweetheart." She leaves me on the other line speechless, and I can't figure out why she was being so kind to me all of a sudden. Everyone is acting so weird to me today, or maybe I'm just the one that's been acting weird.

I take a sip of my coffee and realize that my hand is shaking; I should actually eat something I've already gone through four cups of coffee on an empty stomach. I guess I've just been trying to keep myself awake and alert since I didn't get any sleep last night. I tried to go to sleep with no success, I even tried reading before going to bed but my eyes kept moving over towards the door. My body kept telling me to leave my room and head over to the guest room where Emily was staying, but I always stopped myself. I think I repeated the process of getting up from my bed and walking over to the door just to walk back to my bed about 15 times. I hate how being around Emily is making me feel like a teenager again. Feeling the butterflies whenever I see her smile and the goosebumps I feel when we accidentally touch. The little awkwardness we both share with each other, and last but not least the stolen glances that I take from her when we are together or even when we're not. I don't even think I was like this with Jason, I mean he gave me butterflies with his kisses and with his smile but it's different with Emily for some reason.

I almost kissed her last night, and I think she was put off by it because she wouldn't look at me after Evee walked in. Maybe Hanna was wrong, maybe she didn't like me and maybe Spencer was upset for a different reason. There I go again overthinking everything; maybe I should just tell her how I feel.

"Hey Paige, Hanna just called to see if you were on your way. She said that she already called in an order at that Chinese place, so if you could go and pick it up." Tiny Aria stands in the archway of curtains that separate the lounge from the cafe. I notice her eyebrow is arched, I'm guessing since I'm not answering her she might be concerned. "Are you okay Paige? You seem like you have a lot on your mind." If only she knew that it was Emily who was on my mind and the reason for me not sleeping and basically being a zombie today. I loved Aria for the fact that she just picked up on the smallest things, and can tell when someone isn't themselves. It's no wonder I have stayed friends with these girls despite the age difference. Each one of them understood me in a different way than the other, and that's more then I could ever ask for because they were there for me when I needed it the most.

"I'm fine, just talked to Haley though." I let out a sigh as I pack up my folders and papers and place them in my purse. I look over at Aria and I know she doesn't have to say anything because her facial expression says it all. Both of her eyebrows are raised with her mouth slightly open and her eyes wide. "Yeah I know that's how I was when I saw her name on my phone. Listen I'll talk to you later and fill you guys in when I actually talk to her." Aria's facial expression returns to normal as she nods her head and waves bye to me as I'm walking out of the Brew.

After I get the food and start walking over to the park, I see that the weather is pretty nice. Nice enough for kids to be riding their bike and playing at the park. As I see all these kids play with each other, it just makes me think about Evee not having friends. It breaks my heart whenever I pick her up, and I see her friends from daycare playing together while Evee is always in her own world.

I'm making my way toward some tables by the swings when I pull out my phone to call Hanna, and I see Evee on Emily's back. I stop the call and move to the side as I see Evee's bright smile from almost 50 feet away. I see her creamy skin complexion mix with the olive colored skin that is Emily. Evee's face is buried in Emily's raven color hair that is falling loosely along her back. Hanna was right, I haven't seen Evee like this since Jason died and it was really something to watch.

"Told you" I'm startled, but I don't look away from the two girls as they make their way to the swings.

"So, I was right in thinking that you were up to something. You set this up so I could see them together? Very clever." My eyes still don't leave the girls as Hanna joins me in looking over them. I can see her baby blue eyes start to glaze and by proxy mine do too. I wrap an arm around my little sister's shoulders and she rest her head on my shoulders.

"That's not the only reason, but I did want you to see them like this. To see her happy. Still think she wouldn't love you with Em?" I lean my head on Hanna's as I feel a tear come down my cheek. I missed seeing Evee like this, I mean with me she would be like this but I wasn't around as much as I should be. It was nice to see that she was like that with someone else. "Come on." Hanna pulls my hand and I wipe the tear while she drags me towards the girls.

When I come into view Evee runs up to me, leaving Emily somewhat shocked to see me. I pick up my little girl and spin her in a circle. Emily walks up and is looking at her feet, and I'm immediately remind of my actions from last night. I put Evee down averting my eyes away from Emily too, and before I know it a rush of blood is going to my cheeks. When I look up I can see Hanna with a smirk, and I feel even more embarrassed but Hanna picks up on our awkwardness. Hanna takes Evee away to eat the food I brought leaving me and Emily alone.

"Did you sleep good last night?" Maybe she actually slept, unlike me who kept thinking of crawling into the bed with her.

"When I finally fell asleep I did. Um May I ask you something? Because it has been on my mind all day." My eyes rise to look at her, and her eyes are already on me. Her warm dark brown eyes are focused, and look like she's torn between asking the question and not saying anything. I nod my head and the longer she hesitates in asking me the question, the faster my heart beats and the more anxious I become. I think I know what she's going to ask, and I feel my eyes move to her full pink lips unconsciously.

"Were you going to kiss me yesterday?" She keeps her eyes on me, and my eyes move from her lips to look behind me at Evee and Hanna sitting at the table. This part of the park doesn't have many kids right now, so I lead Emily to the swings where I sit and she follows my lead.

"Honestly? If Evee wouldn't have come in I would have." I kick off the ground to allow myself to swing low, but I look over at Emily who is still. Maybe I should have just lied and said no, because she's not moving or saying anything.

I take a deep breath and before I know it I'm leaning into Emily. I stop just short of her face and I can feel the quiver on her lips. I'm about to move forward but Emily closes the gap between our lips. Her lips press softly on mine and I feel my heart race as the pressure on my lips gets heavier. She tastes like peaches and I just want to deepen the kiss but when I move my hand to her neck she pushes away. I look at her confused, I was not expecting her to return the kiss.

"I'm sorry I have to go." Emily's cheeks are a deep red when she gets off the swings and walks over to Evee. I see the crinkle on my little girl's forehead but then she lean in to give Emily a hug. I watch Emily walk away as I'm left at the swing like a lost child, alone and confused.


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: Thank you for all the support on this story. I really enjoy the reviews and read them all and try to incorporate your ideas into the story if it is applicable. Thank you for the Favorites, Follows and reviews. School Almost over so hopefully i can update more often wish i could have update more for those of you who need their Paily fix until the summer premiere. Thank you for reading And enjoy the chapter!_

_**Nae10:** I am so sorry for ending it the way that I do and torturing you guys! _

_**BokononCradle**: I like to keep you on your toes ;)_

_**Del**: Eh I don't think you'll get much answers from me lol. I hope this story will still stay that way when it takes me awhile to update. I try and Update when I can but i always seem to add and subtract things from the story as I edit them. I feel like you read my mind when it came to the kiss and the analysis of the kiss for both Characters. I try to put a little of everything in each chapter so I'm glad my progression of this story is being loved lol so thank you. Until next update. _

_**saii79:** I'm glad i could make you smile on your Birthday. Hope it was a good one. I'm glad i know how to operate with your emotions, when i read your reviews and you tell me how you react to the chapter i feel like i am actually getting it right because when I write I know how i want the reader to feel or react to it but I never really know. So I'm glad I'm getting the right emotions out of you. Hanna is awesome isn't she? I would love for my sister to be like Hanna but she's not lol. I'm glad you Liked Evelyn's room, I swear I went over that scene so many time during editing to get it just right. I really appreciate the readers saying that they like the progession of the story because my editor(my gf) says that the relationship is taking to long. But what you said about Emily being tramatized is what I told her. Emily is Broken right now and she doesn't know what it's like to not be put together because it's been so long since she's been whole. So i'm really happy that the You and other readers are understanding Emily's struggles and that i'm just not rushing into their relationship. Thank you for thinking the chapter was amazing Ildi,I reaally appreciate it and your support in this story.=). Until next update._

_**KooshGID**: Oh boy indeed. More you say? Well here you go!_

_**Ms:** Glad you liked it! Sorry it take me awhile to update I wish I could update more. But University is almost over for the year so hopefully I'll update wayyy more so you won't have to think about me updating because I actually will! School is going well, thank you. Until next time!_

_**StagHen**: Hanna is great right? Yeah i had to show how Evee was with Emily to Paige. Emily is coming to terms with her feelings for Paige whether she likes it or not but youll see her feelings in this chapter._

_**GingerKid89**: Updates are here! Hope it still interests you!_

_**Guest:** Well thank you for loveing Paige and the Chapter. I have updates for both stories this time so you don't have to wait any longer but wish i could have gotten it to you for finals week. Sorry!_

* * *

Chapter 7

**Emily's POV**

I lean forward before realizing what my body is doing, I'm kissing Paige. I'm kissing my boss and she's kissing me back! Her lips are soft against mine as I graze her lips, getting the slight taste of coffee. The traces of coffee make me crave more of Paige's lips. I press harder, going from a graze to our lips melting into one another's. God this feels so good. I feel her hot breath against my cheek and my heart flutters. I forgot how good it felt to kiss someone. I then think of Maddie and her kisses, comparing them to this one. Memories flood back to me, the rough hands and alcohol scented breaths that interrupted one of our last kisses, and that are now invading this kiss.

My heart stops and my eyes shoot open. I feel like there's a huge weight crashing down on my chest, as my breaths get shorter. I abruptly pull away from Paige, and excuse myself with a shaky voice. I can barely breathe, but somehow I make it through saying my goodbyes and even a hug from Evelyn before I quickly walk away from the park.

I can't handle this. I can't handle the memories, and the fact that kissing Paige was a trigger to those awful memories. Something that I had been thinking about and that was supposed to be a good thing, was just tainted by my past. If I already wasn't freaking out enough that I just kissed my female boss, my mother decides to call me. I ignore her call and start walking to get away from here, from the thoughts, from everything. Before I know it, I'm on the road to get to Hollis.

I collapse onto the grass near the road, because there's tightness in my chest that isn't allowing me to breathe. Hot tears run down my cheeks, making it harder to breathe because of my hysteria. My mind is mixed with the tenderness of Paige's lips, and the stench of alcohol and sweat. I picture their faces and hear their laughter, it's like they are right here next to me.

"Emily is that you?" The kind voice breaks through my thoughts, but it's too late because the darkness overcomes the voice.

My eyes finally adjust to the light, or lack of. I look around and see that I'm in my apartment. I don't feel the tough hands or smell the alcohol anymore. Instead, I see the sunset peaking through the slightly open curtains. I walk across the room to turn on the light, and I see dirt and grass stains on my hands and clothes. I even see some blood on my bandages. I run to the bathroom and start the shower before getting in, and sitting in the middle of the tub. I try to scrub off the stains, and I scrub my skin for the leftover traces of the men's touch even through its been three years. After leaving my skin red, I decide to finally stop scrubbing because the memories will never go away.

I leave the bathroom with the towel wrapped around my body, and head to the kitchen to get a cup of juice. I'm leaning against my fridge when I hear snoring coming from my couch, and I immediately panic.

I walk to the couch and peer over to see a sleeping Tristen. His shaggy light brown hair covers his eyes, and he has some scruff on his cheeks. I turn on the lamp next to him to reveal the dim bulb. I then notice his t-shirt has grass and dirt strains that were matching mine from earlier. My eyes scan his body to see that he has scratches on his face and neck with a blood imprint on his stomach. I snap my eyes away from him as tears threaten to make their way through. I walk over to my room, and quickly get dressed in some shorts and an oversized grey t-shirt. When I come back to the living room, I see Tristen rubbing his eyes and stretch out. When he moves his shaggy hair out of his face, I see one of his eyes has a fresh scratch that is red and puffy. I sit down next to him and reach out for his eye. He flinches at my touch, but then calms down.

"Did I do that to you Tris?" My voice is shaky, and his blue eyes are looking at me with a sad expression. He doesn't have to say it, and I guess I only asked the question to try and convince myself that I wasn't the cause of his pain. "I'm sorry, really I am. I don't know what happened. I was on the road thinking about Paige and then that night came to my mind an.."

"Calm down Em. I was driving into town for a surprise visit, since you didn't call me back, and then I saw you. But when I walked up to you to try to help you up, you just started hitting me. You even knocked me down and started scratching me. Finally, I got you to stop when you passed out, so I brought you home." Tristen brushes his hair over his eye, so that it's hidden under his messy mop.

"Tris, I'm really sorry. I feel terrible about it. I don't know what's wrong with me." My eyes start to water, and my breath is getting shorter until he wraps his long arms around me. I start to relax a bit while still sobbing on his chest. I think this lasted for a half hour, a half hour of pure silence. Finally, I think everything through and begin to calm down while I wipe my tears. I look at Tristen whose just patiently sitting on my couch hugging me while I'm crying. "Wait how did you know where my apartment was?" A smirk comes across his lips, and he squeezes my shoulder into his.

"I called your mom." Of course he did. Of course she would give it to him. My mom loves Tristen. "I told her I was going to visit you but that it was a surprise. I think she wants us to get married." I blush before I wipe away the tears with a small laugh. "But I'm guessing this Paige girl has the upper hand on me. Soooo...whose Paige?" A smile spreads across my face at the mention of the girl's name. I fall back on the couch and cover my smile with the pillow. "Wow look at that smile M&M. Now I'm even more curious about this girl." He sits back with his arms crossed and a cocky smile on his face, which makes me roll my eyes.

"Paige is this WOMAN I met about a week ago. She has a little girl that is adorable, and has the biggest heart. They are both amazing and nice to be around. I was with them today before you, um found me." I take the pillow off my face to see Tristen's wide smile.

"And you get mad at me for saying that you are exclusively into girls? So have you two gone on a date or something?" He puts his elbow on the top of the gray couch, and leans his head into his hand with a smile. His joyful blue eyes stare at me, and I notice that he shares a lot of characteristics with Hanna, both physically and personality wise. They both are goofballs, but can sit down and be serious with me. They have both been there for me when I needed it, and for that I am grateful for the both of them. I might not have many friends, but I'd rather have a few that actually care about me then many that are just there.

"No we haven't, I don't even know if she likes girls. But I did do something stupid today." He raises his eyebrow after moving the light caramel colored hair out of his face. "I kissed her" His mouth drops, and a small laugh leaves my lips but then I feel my shoulders slump and my forehead crinkle. "She's my boss too."

"Em..." His face softens and he reaches out to me, but I shrug it off.

"Are you hungry? I bought groceries so I could make you something when you got here yesterday, but you're here now so..?" He looks at me stunned, and I get up before he can get me to talk about more then I wanted to. "You should take a shower too and cleanup..."

"Em." He gets up and follows me to the kitchen, putting his hand over mine on the cold fridge handle. I bring up my eyes to meet his, and notice that the scratches on his face are fading. His hair is still covering his eyes so I can't read his emotions clearly. His hands are rough, but nothing like the men's hands that I felt before because he was gentle. "What happened on the side of the road, the blacking out? Was that the first time that's happened?" My eyes fall to the dark hardwood floor. I hesitate with my answer, debating if I should tell him the truth and risk seeming crazy to my best friend. I know that if he was going through something like this, then I would want him to tell me the truth.

"No it's not the first time. It actually happens a lot, that's how I broke my finger." I raise my right hand, and then feel Tristen move his hand away from mine. He caresses my hand in between his and I feel his warmth. I know that he always jokes around about me being exclusively into girls, but its times like these that I realize that it's true. I study him and his defined cheekbones; he has a creamy ivory complexion which complements his eyes perfectly. His tasseled hairs over his eyes make the blue shine through the caramel color. My eyes fixate on his ridged stubble surrounding his lips, and I feel myself blush. He was handsome I admit, but my blushing wasn't caused by me thinking about an attraction to him. It was the fact that when I saw his lips and imagine myself kissing him, I couldn't. I imagined Paige in front of me, and her soft coffee tainted lips on mine.

"Have you seen anyone about it? Is this about what happened that..?" He stops as he sees my withdrawn posture. I know he's trying to help, but this is all too much for me to handle today. I feel drained both physically and emotionally. I've disclosed so much today to different people, that I just feel overwhelmed with everything."We can talk tomorrow. I guess I'll take that shower though." After walking to the bathroom, he walks back to me and gives me a tight hug. I wrap my arms around his back, and I can feel his toned arms around me making me feel safe. "I'm here for you M&M, you are a sister to me so when you want to talk I'll listen."

He lets go and heads for the shower, while I make my way to the couch. I sink myself in, and just close my eyes trying to rid this day of everything bad. I lean my head back and bring my heels up to rest on the edge of the grey couch. I look for the remote to the TV, but before I find it I hear a knock on my door. There goes my relaxing and unwinding time. But when I open the door, I'm not expecting to see a nervous and fearful Paige.

"Hey, I just wanted to see how you were. After you left so suddenly at the park, I just needed to know you were okay." She's avoiding eye contact with me, and I don't blame her. I basically left her hanging when I kissed her, and then ran off without an explanation. "Hanna said she saw a guy carrying you..." Just then Paige's eyes snap up, and I turn my head as I try to make out what she's saying.

"Em where are your towe..." Finally Tristen appears shirtless and with his jeans undone. He stops in his tracks, and I look over at Paige who looks between me and Tristen with a perplexed look. She looks longer at me, and I can feel her scanning my attire when I realize what it looks like. Paige's cheeks turn a fire red color from embarrassment I'm guessing. I think Tristen gets the hint because I hear him call out 'Nevermind' before his footsteps disappear.

"Paige it's not what it looks like. Tris.." I plead with her as I take a step towards her. Her eyes are staring at the floor again when she inches away from me.

"Evee wanted to give this to you today, but you left in a rush. So I thought I'd come over to bring it to you and to see how you were, but it's clear you are doing just fine." She hands me an envelope before she turns on her heels, and walks down the corridor to the stairs. I contemplated going after her, but maybe it was better this way. I see her walk away and I have a sinking feeling in my chest, a feeling that is overpowering my whole body.

"Was that her?" I turn my head to see my friend with his now wet pushed back hair to expose his healing wounds. "If it was I'm sorry if I screwed it up."

"Yeah, that was Paige. She came by to give me this. It's okay I guess." I hand him the unopened envelope, and he just examines it before I give him the okay to open it.

"So Evee, is this Paige's little girl?" I look at him as he reads whatever is in the envelope, and I'm confused.

"Yeah how did you know?" He flashes me the paper with a picture of a smiling Evelyn, and invitation to her 4th birthday party. I grab the paper and look at Evelyn and her bright smile with her dad's dogtag showing over a navy blue blouse.

"She's cute, her moms cute too. It's no wonder you like her, if I had a boss like that I would try to kiss her too." I playfully smack him and he just laughs. I know that he's just trying to make me feel better, but I actually am kind of bothered by the way he was referring to Paige. I look at his body to see that he's wearing some baggy sweats with a white beater. Out of the corner of my eye I see that he has a large duffle that is set next to the coat rack.

"Sooo how long are you planning on staying?" I ask while pointing at the bag, and he turns his head to look in that direction. He scratches the back of his head as he thinks about the question. "Well it is a two bedroom apartment, so you can stay in the second one if you want. It's the least I could do, brother."

"Don't say that to your mom." We both burst into laughter falling back into the couch. "Actually, I wanted to propose something to you." I give him a reassuring smile and listen to him for the rest of the night, as he nervously talks about his plans. It felt like old times on base where it would just be Maddie, Tris and I talking while sitting out in the blazing hot sun. Well until I was left by myself for months before the ambush. I'm glad he's here though, and I'm kicking myself for not calling him sooner.

* * *

**Paige's POV **

Evee was upset about not being able to give her birthday invitation to Emily earlier. So I offered to take it over to her apartment after I finished my paperwork. I know it's not right, and really unprofessional to use Emily's application to find out her phone number and address. But I felt like after our short lived kiss, that maybe we could talk about it. I finished my paperwork and was just filling in at the register as we got busy. Hanna's working the shift with me, and she's caught on to the distracted attitude I had after the park. She's been asking me what happened between us that made Emily leave so out of the blue. During our break, Hanna finds me in the back and we sit in silence before she finally begins the conservation.

"So, I saw some guy with Em earlier. He was carrying her into a building down the street." She points to the red brick apartment building near the corner.  
"When I was coming from dropping off Evee, I saw them." Her eyes are on her Asian style salad that she just keeps moving around meticulously.  
"So are you going to tell me what happened?" I grab my iced tea, and start to make my way back inside the restaurant before turning to her and waiting for our eyes to meet before I speak.

"When there's something to talk about, I'll tell you, I promise Han." She disappears as I walk through the kitchen to the front. I'm trying to clean and help out to kill time before going to see Emily.

We finally close the restaurant, and as I approach the red brick apartment building Hanna was talking about earlier, I realize it's Emily's address. Maybe Hanna was just seeing things. As I walk up the stairs, I feel my heart race and my mouth dry up. I can't believe she has this effect on me. After our kiss earlier, I just wanted to keep kissing and never part from her full lips. I was confused when she kissed me, and even more when she left. When I finally relaxed and realized that she was actually kissing me, she pulled away. I thought it was just to soak in what was happening, but she left. I guess I was still trying to take in what was happening, but I knew that I liked it. I liked feeling of her close to me, and the fact that she made the first move. When she left, I tried to figure what I did wrong.

I walk down the hallway staring at the piece of paper with Emily's address on it, until I'm suddenly faced with her apartment number. I look at the number on the paper to double check, before knocking and looking at Emily standing in front of me. I try to not scan her body or catch a glance of her, because I know if I did I would just lunge for her to finish what we started at the park. I hear myself rambling about how she was, while I fiddle with Evee's envelope. But a sudden deep voice alerts my ears, and my head snaps almost off my neck by how quickly I see a half naked man in Emily's living room.

I see his exposed muscular upper body with red scratches on his neck and near his collarbone. When my eyes move to Emily with her oversized t-shirt that looks like it can be a man's and see she isn't wearing any pants, I realize what's going on here. My heart falls and my brain slows down to fully process this, but it still doesn't really hit me. I thought she liked me by the kiss we shared, but I guess the feeling wasn't mutual. The man leaves and I feel like I'm trespassing in their moment, and the thought angers me. This moment was for me and Emily to talk about us. But I suppose there was never an 'us' to talk about. My lips are moving and I hear my voice, but it doesn't connect with my brain. I leave Emily's apartment and head to my house, to find my daughter and feel some reassurance of some sort.

The rest of the night was a blur after getting home. Hanna again tried to get me to talk, but quickly realized I wasn't in the mood when I went up to my room for the rest of the night. I feel like such a teenager, coming straight to my room and ignoring my sister because I was having a bad day. I was never like this growing up, I never let my emotions get the better of me, but this jealously that I'm feeling is eating up at me. Evee crawls into my bed around nine o'clock, and her warm body snaps me out of the state I'm in.

"You give Emmy it mommy?" Her small mouth opens into a yawn, and her red fingers curl up to her eyes trying to rub away her sleepiness. I bring her closer to me, and she snuggles her head under my arm leaning her head on my chest. I smooth her hair out of her face while noticing her eyes becoming heavier as I play with her hair.

"Yes sweetie I did." I look down at her and she had a smile on her tiny pink lips. I really hope this jealously goes away with Emily and her boyfriend because if it continues, I don't know if I could let Evee be around her.

This morning's routine just went by without me being aware, as if I was on autopilot. I'd take my car to work today but I'm guessing that if I'm not really all here, that that was a bad idea. I just keep thinking about my kiss with Emily and how suddenly my happiness was taken away. I mean, I was confused yesterday, but I was happy that it happened. To feel her firm lips on mine, she took control of the kiss but knew just what to do so that it wasn't overwhelming. It would have been perfect if she wouldn't have pulled away and left.

I'm in the back baking muffins, when I hear a voice and the bell from the door ring out. "I'll be right with you." I wash my hands of flour and batter before walking to the front with my head hung as I tighten my ponytail.

"Hey I know you." I look up to see a tall man with shaggy light brown hair that looks that he just woke up and ran his fingers through it. His blue eyes are piercing but semi groggy looking, but he's flashing a bright smile despite the hour of the day. My mind is still in its own world of Emily that I don't recognize him. "Um I think I met you last night. I was without a shirt. I'm Tristen, I hope you're Paige." I remember that I only saw a glimpse of the man in Emily's apartment, but now that I'm staring at him, I see the scruffy hair and the built of the man from yesterday.

"Yeah that's me. What can I get started for you?" I try to hide any hint of jealously. I tried to summon up a smile but it faltered.

"Yes, can I get a large coffee, the strongest you have and a large Americano. I think that's still her coffee order." He chuckles and I cringe at the fact that he does know her coffee order, and that he's here getting her coffee.

"Yeah that's her coffee order." I say flatly as I make the coffees. I feel his eyes on me, and I attempt to keep my eyes on the espresso machine. Out of the corner of my eye I see a smirk before he turns to look at the display case of pastries.

"About yesterday. I'm sorry if we got off on the wrong foot. It's nice to meet Emily's friends; she was telling me all about you." I look up at him but he's bent down looking at the muffins on the lower shelf. "She told me you, Evelyn, and Hanna have really helped her since you guys met. So thank you for helping her and looking out for her when I couldn't." A genuine smile spreads across his face when I look at him to hand the coffee's over. "What do you recommend? Emily always changes what she has with her coffee, and I know she comes here for her breakfast."

"Yeah, she comes almost every morning. She likes anything. The other day I gave her some strawberry scones, and I think she liked them. So how long have you and Emily been together?" I grab two scones and two muffins to give to Tristen after I ring him up, but he still doesn't answer my question. He looks at me with an intrigued quirk in his eyebrow.

"Em and I are not together. You should know that." My eyes fixate on him and I wonder what he means. His posture is relaxed, and he just seems nonchalant with what he might be referring to.  
"What you saw yesterday wasn't what it looked like Paige. I know what it looked like, but it's not like that. I know I don't have a right to step in between your guys' relationship, but you should talk to her. "

"I don't know what you're talking about. How would I know that you two are not together? Last night you two seemed pretty...comfortable. And there's nothing to step 'inbetween'. I'm just her friend." I hand him his change before I wipe down the counter.

"I've known Emily for 4 years, and she's basically been a sister to me. I know her Paige. There's a reason she comes to this place every morning, and it's not just because of the great menu." He walks out the door and I'm left, like how I was yesterday, confused and alone. This time I'm left with a little more clarity then I was when Emily left.

A blush starts to arise on my face and I smile to myself when I replay everything that this guy had said to me while being here. I think what he was trying to tell me is that Emily told him about the kiss, and how she felt about me. I mean that comment about coming here every morning? That was the biggest hint of them all. Just then, I hear the timer on the oven go off and I rush to the back. I set the scones and the muffins on the cooling rack. When I first recognized Tristen, I thought my day was just going to get worse, but surprises come about in many different forms.

* * *

**Emily's POV **

I knock on Tristen's door and wait for him to answer, maybe he's still asleep. I lean my head on the door frame and close my eyes. Maybe I'll go to the Brew and gets some coffee for us, that'll give me time to talk to Paige. Last night I thought it would be better if I let Paige think that I was with Tristen. But now I don't want her to think that, Tristen was right; I can't be afraid of who I am. I like Paige, and she makes me feel good; there's a reason I kissed her. Maybe she didn't want that, but I owed it to her to at least explain the kiss.

Just then, the front door opens and I see a struggling Tristen with coffee and pastries juggled in both hands trying to close the door. "Woah, you already got breakfast! You know you're setting the bar really high, and it's just the first day." I run over to the door to help him with the coffee as he lets out a roaring laugh. "Wait, these are from the Brew. You talked to Paige?"

"Chill out Fields." He laughs but a panic feeling starts to creep up on me. "You got it bad Em. I just...cleared things up." He takes a sip of his coffee, and sits on the couch with the bag of baked goods. He pats the grey cushion next to him for me to sit down. I walk over to the couch slowly, and wish that I would have woken up a little earlier to beat Tristen to the coffee run.

"Why are you so afraid of your feelings for this girl?" I slump back into the couch after putting my coffee on the side table's coaster. I put my hands over my face in exhaustion of asking myself this same question many times before.

"Because then it becomes real Tris. I'm not overseas anymore, I'm back home. Whatever me and Maddie had, felt like a fantasy because we would act like it never happened. I didn't have to face it; I didn't have to admit to myself that I liked girls. I just blamed it on my inexperience with men." I sigh after finally letting out my thoughts to someone on the subject. There isn't anyone that I have ever been able to talk to about Maddie and my feelings towards girls but Tristen. And he kind of figured it out by accident, but I will always be grateful for him and his support.

"Em… its okay to be gay. I know you're scared, but it's okay to feel the way you do. I know you liked Maddie and your guys' arrangement, but it doesn't seem like you want that with Paige."

"After what happened, I can't help but think that the way that I feel is unacceptable."  
Tristen shakes his head, and I can't help the frown that comes upon me.

"You can't let those jerks ruin your love life; you deserve to be happy Em. Talk to Paige."  
He reaches for my phone, and his eyes widen as he picks up the phone from the footrest. I put my feet over his lap and sit back with my coffee warming up my cold fingers. "Woah if I didn't know any better, I would think that Hanna was the sister that liked you." I take the phone from his hands, and see that I have two missed calls and about 6 texts all from Hanna. I'm almost too scared to reply to her attempts to get a hold of me. I contemplate answering Hanna back, but my fingers linger over Paige's name on my contact. I take a chance and call her; knowing that I'll get her voicemail since she's working right now. It rings once and then another time before I hear a click on the other end of the receiver.

"Hey Emily, I was just about to call you." Shit. I didn't think she was going to answer; I wasn't expecting her low angelic voice. But at the sound of it, I can't help but smile to myself and I see Tristen mouth 'awe'.

"You were?" I'm stunned as I get off the couch and walk over to the window, and away from Tristen.

"Yeah, I was going to call to say you don't have to come into work today. Jenna and Shana are picking up shifts for you and Hanna." She says in a cheerful voice that makes my heart melt but fall at the same time.

"Oh." Is all I can manage to let out and Tristen's forehead crinkles.

"Yeah, so you can have the day off. I'll talk to you later."

"Wait Paige!" I say in a higher voice than I intended.

"Yeah Em?" I melt at the sound of my name coming from the beautiful woman on the other line.

"Do you think we could meet up later? Just the two of us?" I ask nervously while biting my lower lip, and glancing over at Tristen. He's watching me intently while taking small planned out sips of his coffee.

"Yeah that sounds good. Where do you want to meet?" Paige sounds nervous over the phone. I look outside my window and see that the sun is trying to escape the early morning clouds.

"Um, I can just come over if you want." I've never been this awkward before, but I can't help it, these developing feelings for her are really getting the better of me. I'm not used to feeling so tied to my emotions, but I guess there's a first time for everything.

"Well Hanna and Sparia are going to be at the house, and if you want to talk in private then maybe.. I could just come to your apartment after work." Paige says with a nervous tone that makes me smile, knowing that I can make her nervous.

"Sparia?" I let out a laugh which then turns into a small chuckle. I don't think I would trust myself being with Paige in my apartment all alone. But it's just a talk right?

"Yeah Spencer and Aria. I know it's foolish, but Evee could never say their full names when she was learning to talk, and since they were always together she would call them that." I can hear her smile and I wish I was there to see it, I close my eyes to imagine the angelic face. "But it's getting pretty busy here, so is me coming over okay?" I look over at Tristen who I think just lost interest in the conversation since it's very one sided for him. He's eating the muffins and scones that are in the bag from the Brew. I walk over to snatch the bag away from him before he eats both of our breakfasts. I walk away from Tristen's annoyed glare while telling Paige that I would see her after work.

"Wanna go play basketball in a little? I haven't played since you left base." I pull out the metal stool to sit on while finishing my breakfast. I think about what I'm going to tell Paige when I see her. I think I'll just tell her the truth, that I think I have this crush on her. If she isn't comfortable with that maybe she would ignore me and pretend like it never happened. I mean that would be way easier then actually facing my feelings. I would be facing rejection sure, but it's better than admitting something that I wasn't quite sure I would ever be comfortable with. But she didn't seem to pull away from me yesterday. Something else that confused me is why she didn't pull away from me. I let myself think it's because she just didn't want to seem rude or anything my pushing me away. I think anything is better than the alternative, that she actually likes me. I find it hard to believe because she was married to a man, and even has a child with him. From what Hanna told me, Paige and Jason were the 'it' couple of Rosewood when he was alive.

"Of course M&M. I need to call my family before we do anything though, and maybe look for a job, you sure you're okay with this?" The skeptical look he gives me makes me roll my eyes, before going back to enjoy my hot coffee.

"Tris, Why wouldn't I want my best friend living with me? It's not like it would be the first time, you know. Take as long as you need to find a job, it's fine. I do have one condition though." I look at him with a smirk as I slowly turn in the stool. He perks up in the couch when he sees the look in my face. The smile that he was sporting is gone when he senses trouble by the sudden change. "No one night stands. You can't just have different girls come and go from the apartment. As long as you can manage that, then we won't have a problem." I say with a smile and a shrug while getting up from the stool with my coffee. I walk towards my room and feel Tristen's eyes on the whole walk, and when I turn my head slightly I could see a smirk on his face as he's shaking his head.

I come out of my room ten minutes later dressed in some loosely fitted grey jeans with a black long sleeve shirt and some black converse. I reach for my leather jacket on the coat rack by the door, and shrug it on to my shoulders before pulling the collar and hood from the inside. With a stuffed mouth, Tristen tried to communicate with me, but I ignore him and his mannerism while slinging my wavy hair into a tight ponytail. "They taught us appropriate mannerisms in the army for four years and a few months out and you forgot how to use them?" I snarl over my shoulder to him and he stops chewing, and swallows the huge amount of food in his mouth regretfully.

"Where are you going M&M?" He snaps his neck back to look at me.

"I have an appointment with a therapist today. Since I thought I was going to be working, I made it early. So after that, I'll make a key for you and we can look around town. I'll see you later." Tris waves to me and returns to his phone on the couch, when I grab my house key from the bowl and walk out the apartment.

Going down the narrow tedious stairway of my apartment building made my nerves rise with every step closer to the hospital. One thing about living on the top floor was you had more time to think about things; about life. How to even begin to tell a stranger my problems, I don't know. But when the cool winter air cuts through me, I know that I would have to figure that out sooner rather than later.

I guess I was the first appointment of the day; I'm waiting outside of her office and the door to her office is locked. I look at my watch to reveal that I am ten minutes early. I guess I was speed walking over here unknowingly. I lean against the modern looking office building to just rest my head on the cold ridged exterior. I close my eyes to breathe in and out, because I can feel my nerves building up again. A clicking of a lock catches my attention and I see Spencer on the other side of the door.

"Spencer?" The girl looks at me with doe eyes as if she was in front of headlights. I look at the address of the office, and see the name of the doctor on the placard near the door. "What are you doing here?"

"Emily? Um I work here, I'm the receptionist for Dr. Sullivan. What are you doing here?" She steps aside allowing me to come into the office, where there was a cozy waiting room with some nice looking pale colored seats surrounding the walls of the room.

"I have an appointment with Dr. Sullivan. When I went to the doctors to get my hand looked at, the doctor that was helping me made me an appointment. Said that her brother had gotten help from her." I try to look at anything but Spencer, but there's only so many things that you could look at in the small room before you were redirected back to what you were avoiding.

"I had a feeling you were that patient Melissa was talking about the other day." Spencer walks over to the reception desk and neatly places the pens and post-it notes near the computer keyboard. She was typing away when I walked up, curious to what she was talking about. Who the hell was Melissa? The phone rings and Spencer lets it ring once more before answering. "Hello, this is Spencer Hastings for Dr. Sullivan's office. How may I help you this morning?"She puts her hand over the mouth piece of the phone to tell me to take a seat. Hastings? As in my doctors last name? Was that who this Melissa was? I sit in the chair trying to remember what the doctor had said that day. She talked about her niece that never took off her brothers dogtag. Which totally matches Evelyn with Jason's tag. Now I remember the physical features of the doctor, as I look at Spencer to see the resemblance. I knew the doctor looked familiar; she and Spencer were sisters.

"Emily Fields?" An exceptionally tall slender woman that looked like she was in her early fifties walks up to my seat in the waiting room, and rests a hand on my shoulder. "Come on in." I muster up a half smile, and weakly bring myself up from my seated position to enter the session room before Dr. Sullivan. I guess this is the time to make up my mind about what I wanted to say in this room. Well here goes nothing.

* * *

**Paige's POV**

"Welcome back to reality Haley." I say as I scribble writing on a contract with the produce company. I don't even have to look up to see who is standing in the doorway of the office.

"I'm your mother Paige, try calling me mom and not by my name." She moves to sit in front of the desk in the open leather seat.

"Well, try being here more often and maybe I'll consider it." I smile up at her, and her facial expression falters. I know I shouldn't be mean to her, but she just left me with her business and when I needed her most. She always left when I needed her when I was younger.

"Paige, I am still your mother; it's disrespectful to refer to me by my name." She's angry, but she had no right to be. I keep looking over the contract as she raises her voice and body. I don't want to start a fight with her because it's just ridiculous. "I deserve respect." With those words I forget that I was trying to stay calm, because those words triggered something inside of me. A rising ball of hated was making its way through every part of my body, as I slam the pen down while looking up at her.

"You have to earn respect. Dad and Ashley taught me that, and you most certainly haven't earned my respect. You might have given birth to me, but I think of Ashley as my mother and I do call her mom. Because she has earned it, she's been there for everything. If anything, I deserve your respect for running your damn business for you while you act like you're my age. I have a daughter and a business already, and I'm more mature than you. So if you're going to start talking about respect, than you better have a better argument than 'I'm your mother'." I stand up while leaning over the desk to be face to face with my mother. I guess it's all coming out. "By the way, we hired a new girl for the Grille." I slap Emily's folder on my mom's hand, and her eyes drop. I grab my purse and begin to walk around the desk.

"Fire her." I stop and turn around to look at Haley, as she is flipping through Emily's paperwork.

"What? Why?"

"Fire everyone. I'm closing the Grille." She drops the folder on the desk before crossing her arms and staring at me. I can't believe this. "I want to move out of Rosewood and I want you and Evelyn to come."

"We can't pick up our lives and just move. Dad and Ashley are here, Jason's family is here. I have the Brew."

"I can't stay in Rosewood Paige. I'm closing the Grille since you obviously don't want the responsibility of it. I wish that you would come though, that way we can reconnect and I get to be a grandma to Evelyn." She's seating on the computer chair now looking over the papers, and I can't believe she is doing this. I can't believe she wants me to move from the only place that I have ever called home. To leave the people who are basically my family.

"If you move out of Rosewood I promise you, that you will never see Evelyn or me again. You can't keep abandoning me, and then think you can do the same thing to my daughter. If you want me to call you mom, why don't you actually stick around long enough to see how we are after the death of my husband, or to actually see your only granddaughter grow up?" I walk out of the office before my eyes give in, and I begin to tear up as I step outside of the Grille. Not exactly the way I wanted the conversation to go with her, after our talk yesterday.

To get my mind off of my mom, I decide to walk around the town square just so that I could cool off before being faced with anyone. It's around 2, and there's many families sitting around the benches of the square. Lots of kids laughing and chasing each other around while their mom's gossip about god knows what.

I see some familiar blonde hair, and feel my anger leave my body instantly as she stands near some courts in the park overlooking guys playing basketball. I see Evelyn sitting closely to Hanna's leg, pulling out grass strands and putting them into a small Ziploc bag.

"There are my girls." I bend down to kiss Evee's rosy cheeks and sit behind her. Hanna joins Evee and me as I begin to braid my daughter's smooth brown hair. "So who are you scoping out Han?" I haven't even looked up since my eyes met Hanna and Evee. So when I look up to see Hanna's eyes locked on the basketball court, I follow her gaze and I see why she can't take her eyes off of the courts. I see guys playing basketball in the center court, half with shirts and half without. Leading the guys on the shirtless team as a point guard is Emily in a sports bra. As she dribbles the ball down the court, her olive skinned body glistens with sweat. Her defined muscles are so clear when I see her lift her arms to shoot a three pointer into the hoop. I stare at her tight abdominal area as she runs backward to defend the opposing point guard. I hear her call for someone to help out, and see Tristen's body show up in my line of vision. The opposing teams point guard buries his shoulder into Emily, pushing her down and leaving the shot open for a three pointer. She gets up quickly with gravel still stuck to her back when Tristen blocks the shot leaving Emily undefended to their hoop where she makes an easy layup with Tristen's swift pass.

"Who is that guy that just high fived Em? He is hot!" I regretfully take my eyes off of Emily, and look over to Hanna whose eyes are still glued to Tristen.

"That's her best friend." I finish Evee's braid finally, since I got distracted from Emily playing basketball. I was never a huge fan of basketball but I knew the basics; but maybe with Emily she could change that.

"Go Emmy!" Evee startled the both of us when she jumps from the ground clapping for Emily. Emily's head shoots over in our direction and she waves over to us before high fiving all the guys. The boys walk over to the benches to grab their bags and shirts. We weren't the only girls gawking over the basketball players; the perimeter of the court was lined with girls and a few guys looking over the players. The guys that are here beeline for Emily, and I feel myself glare at all of them. But Tristen puts his arm around her when he sees the herd heading for Emily, and begins to walk over to us with the line of disappointed guys fleeing the courts.

"Hey did you ladies enjoy the game?" Tristen lets out a vigorous laugh and so does Emily, which makes me, smile up at her beautiful face and her amazing laugh. "You must be Hanna." I feel like Hanna is star stuck when looking at Tristen, and processing that he's talking to her. She nods her head, and he smiles at her before kneeling down in front of Evee. "And you must be Evelyn. I'm Tristen, Emily's friend. She's told me ALOT about you." I look over at Evee, who is assessing Tristen's friendly smile but instead of looking at me for approval of this man, she looks up at Emily. Emily looks between me and Evee not knowing what to do or say. My little girl moves closer to Emily while keeping her eyes on Tristen.

"Evee, Tristan is good guy. I've known him for a long time and he's my best friend." Emily bends down to catch Evee's attention, and the little girl moves slightly away from Emily but before she says anything to Tristen she turns to Emily.

"Emmy I not your besties friend?" The brown eyes stare up at Em, and I feel bad for anyone that tries to resist those big gorgeous eyes of hers. I've learned when to say yes and when she say no to her, but Emily isn't that lucky. She stares into her eyes and I share a look with Hanna, and we both smirk knowing that Emily doesn't stand a chance against the amber craters.

"Of course you are Evee. Tristen is too though." Evee jumps up and down squealing making all of us laugh. 20 minutes go by with all four of them talking to each other, but I stay silent as I fixate on Emily. She's sitting on the grass, still with just a sports bra and some basketball shorts on. Her tight stomach concaves as her knees are brought up towards her chest. I watch her as she listens to Evee talk to her about her birthday party. I can't help but keep stealing glances of Emily's very toned stomach as she lets out breaths. Her olive skin rises, and I count the seconds before exhaling to see the tightness that I have been craving to see again since I spilled coffee on her. My eyes find the tattoo on the side of her ribcage that I was trying to read that day but couldn't, and see that it's a quote. 'Nothing is permanent in this wicked world— not even our troubles.'

"Hey Paige, I have to get back to the house. Spencer and Aria just texted me saying they are on their way. So you coming?" Hanna's smile was almost as bad as Evee's eyes; I always gave in when Hanna batted her bright blue eyes and her brilliant smile when we were younger. But I currently have other obligations, and I planned on seeing it through. I had to know what Emily wanted to talk to me about; I had to get some answers, because the ones Tristen gave me just held me over until her phone call. My whole morning at the Brew was just me thinking about Emily, and I even messed up on a few coffee orders.

"Actually, um Paige and I were going to talk." She turns to me with a nervous look upon her beautiful face. "I mean if you still wanted to talk?" She grabs her shirt from the floor and puts it on, but it doesn't make much of a difference because the sleeves of the shirt are cut leaving her bare sides exposed. I feel eyes on me while I was concentrating on the tattoo on her ribcage again. I quickly look up to see that I was right, everyone is staring at me waiting for me to answer.

"Yeah, you said you wanted to talk about a few things. Han, I'll just see you guys later at the house okay?" Emily and Tristen go to the benches to grab their bags, and Hanna gives me a elbow in the ribs with a smile and a wink before hugging me. I notice that Evee ran back to hug Emily, and to wave to the towering giant in front of her. They leave drawing my attention back to the girl with the olive skin that's breathtakingly beautiful, even while dripping with sweat.

"So I like your tattoo." Pointing to the cursive on her ribs that I keep staring at.

"Oh thank you. I got this one after my first tour. My CO always use to tell us that. Especially the younger one like me, who came into the army right after high school." She touches her ribs and tightens the grip on her bag. The walk back to her apartment is a silently haunting one. Many thoughts and feelings are running through my head as we step into her apartment. She closes the door and I hear her voice finally. I look at her apartment and see a grey couch with men's clothing thrown all over it. From pajama pants, to boxers, with a trail of scattered clothing leading to a bedroom. I look closely to see the clothes that I remember Emily wearing last night. "Shit, I told Tristen to take out the laundry. I'm really sorry for the mess." I turn to see her running and picking up all the articles of clothing. I smile as I see the crinkle in her forehead by the distress of Tristen. "Did I mention that he's a slob?" She peers up at me with amazing smile, and I even see dimples embedded in her olive colored cheeks.

"How long is he staying?" I help pick up the clothes, and throw them in the basket that is attached to Emily's hip.

"Um actually, as of last night, he's my roommate." I stand up straight, and I notice that she's avoiding eye contact with me and keeping her hands busy with the clothes. "But we aren't together though, he's like my brother. That's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about." She lets out a sigh before setting down the basket, and leading me to the couch. Her touch is like fire to my skin, the same touch that I had been craving since our kiss yesterday. "So... I know that you said you wanted to kiss me when I was over at your house, but I'm sorry I acted on it yesterday. I'm not the kind of person that does impulsive things like that." She puts her hands on her face, trying to cover up her flushed cheeks I suppose. "It was a stupid question for me to ask, and you were probably just kidding, and then I kissed you. I'm sorry I know it was unexpected, and then I just left without saying anything." I see tears in her eyes as she continues mumbling about yesterday. I understand that she's confused about what I said, especially with there being no indication that I was attracted to girls. Her nervous mumble makes my heart melt with how adorable she was, flailing her hands trying to justify the kiss to me. I can't take anymore of her nervousness and rambling, so I kiss her.

I press my lips to hers hard to try and get her to shut up. She's stiff for a moment; I guess surprised that I kissed her this time. Then I feel her lips move with mine. Small trances of Gatorade and sweat are on her lips and I don't care, because the way our lips mold to each other is perfect. I hesitate with moving my hand up to her cheek to pull her closer to me, because last time she left. But then I feel Emily's warm palm on my neck, and her fingers lightly pulling me forward by the back on my neck. I bring my hand up to match her movements, and I feel her tongue swipe the top of my lip. I let out a low moan and pull away from Emily slowly. "Your rambling is really cute." I give her a peck on the lips, and smile as she stays silent. "When I said I wanted to kiss you, I meant it. I wasn't joking, I like you Emily. I liked that you were impulsive Em."

"Wait..you actually like me? But there was Jason, and you have Evelyn, and then there's me. A girl." She gets off the couch upset and without thinking I grab her arm, pulling myself up and stopping her from leaving again.

"Why do you run away from me? You ignored me after I spilled coffee on you, then left after the kiss yesterday, and then just now you were going to run away." She brings her eyes slowly up from the floor to our touching hands. I want to pull her into me and kiss her again; but I can't. Both of our bodies are still, it's as if the slightest movement will trigger the other to do something they will regret.

"I can't like you, and you can't like me." She finally says and my eyes make their way up to her face. I see that she has small dark circles under her eyes, but also tears coming down her red olive cheeks. "This." She motions between the both of us before wiping her tears with the sweat soaked bandage on her right hand. "It can't happen. I didn't think you liked me, and I thought me telling you that I liked you would make things easier, not harder."

I stare at her as she paces back and forth in her living room. I hear her talking to herself in a whisper while pacing. I don't understand what's going on, we were just making out and we like each other; but her words and attitude now say something different than her body. I get up and walk towards the door grabbing my purse from the coat rack by the door. I open the door and I don't feel Emily's movements anymore. I turn to see her with sad eyes looking at me with furrowed eyebrows. "Emily, I'm not going to play games. When you figure out whatever it is that is holding you back from 'this' then find me, because it seems like me being here isn't doing you any good right now. So right now it's my turn to walk away." I see her jaw clench before her head drops to the floor. I don't want to go, but I feel like I'm not doing any good by being here.


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N: Thank you for patiently waiting guys! I am finished with my Junior year at University and i have three months ahead of me for writing. And hopefully giving you updates weekly on both stories. And I might be able to even finish one of the stories =O. So hopefully you guys are still into the story, I promise that More paily moments, happy ones, will come in the next chapter._

_**KooshGID:** Well thank you i try and do my best so i'm glad to know I can deliver a chapter well.=)_

_**Ms:** Well thank you! I hope I have more Great chapters!_

_**saii79:** Well i'm trying to satisfy everyone with the progression of the Story so soon very soon will it begin to move a tad bit faster but not by much. Yes she needs to figure it out and Paige realizes that even though she doesn't like the distance from Emily, But Emily will get help on how to deal with her feelings for Paige, from someone who is kindof an unlikely person to confide in but you'll see more of that in the next chapter. Yes Tristen really is The male version of Hanna, He will push Emily to deal with things and not let her just push things away, He's very aggressive with getting her to open up. I love Tristen too, for some reason I love making male OC for my stories but they end up being a huge part of it. You are totally right about Tristen and Hanna and it starts in this chapter, towards the end though. I love the Basketball scene, I was smiling the whole time writing it. I promise there will be more scenes like that, where you cant keep your eyes off of both Paige and/or Emily. Even the small amount that Evee is in a chapter she still steals your heart. Yeah You will get an invitation in the form of a Chapter 9 update, because her birthday party is all of next chapter. If you like me just mentioning the word Sparia you'll like what i have in store for future chapters. Dont worry i like this story too much to end it any time soon so you can enjoy for awhile. =) always good to hear from you Ildi!_

_**Del**:Yes she is visiting a Thearpist because of her past but slowly that will come out when she's ready, and it will explain a little bit more as to why she can't accept Paige yet. Yes Tristen's presence couldn't have come at a better time for Emily, while she's struggling with her feelings for Paige and her past. I know I am getting to Emily knowing about Paige's past with girls but that will come in the next chapter. Thank you for reading and your reviews they are really appreciated. I'm glad you still like the story hope you will continue to like it!_

_**redgirl25**: Well thank you for your kind words! I love your story too as you know from our PMs. I hope I have that perfect combo throughout the whole story. Paige's gets a clue from none other then*drum role* her sister!, about Emily's struggles soo just stay with me._

_**StagHen:** Lesbro! I love that! Yes Tristen is the perfect Lesbro for Emily! YOu are right about the Sideline story though. Yes Paige is frustrated and you really see that in this chapter, but she's trying to be there for Emily. Oh yes, Spencer was sort of absent in the last few chapters but she is in this chapter and will be in future chapters. She's back in full swing!_

_Thank you for the Favorites, Follows and Reviews! I really appreciate the reviews and they make me feel like I should continue the story and know they you guys aren't bored with it. I read and respond to all reviews, and i even take them into consideration if you have story ideas, if they are applicable. I hope every liked the season 4 PLL summer premiere and they return of our dearly PAILY! and Paige McCullers! Love the cutesy Paily and the idea of them going to college together but we'll see what happens. anyways here is chapter 8 hope you Enjoy!_

_PS: sorry if this chapter has alot of mistakes, I usually do a better job at editing but i'm lazy and very sleep deprived sooo again sorry ahead of time._

* * *

Chapter 8

**Emily's POV **

I think my mind and body are getting used to these blackouts, because it doesn't even phase me anymore when I wake up in a different place then where I was before. Today hasn't turned out the way I had wanted it to, mostly because of my words. The words that I choose to describe my feelings. I chose them wrong with Dr. Sullivan this morning, and then I chose them wrong with Paige.

I walk out to the kitchen to get a glass of water, and see that there is shattered glass on the counter top and blood. What the hell? I follow the trail of blood with my eyes to my bedroom. I look at my hand and realize that my hand has a blood soaked towel wrapped around it. I unwrap it and see pieces of glass embedded into my palm. Fuck. I wrap the towel around it again and head for the door. I run down the stairs and across town to the hospital. I walk in trying to catch my breath by putting my hands over my head.

"Emily?" I whip my head around and see the brown haired doctor with wide eyes. "I will handle this patient okay Christina." She looks over to the nurse with a smile, and turns her attention back to me. She places her hand around my bicep and gently leads me in the direction of the clinic. She sits me down on a bed and goes to retrieve some supplies. I patiently wait there staring at my hand. These blackouts are really starting to get out of hand. Okay what's the last thing I remember? I remember Paige being at the apartment and trying to explain the kiss to her, and getting prepared to get told off. Then she kissed me? Yeah she kissed me, but I think it was more than just a kiss, I'm pretty sure we made out. "Earth to Emily" I shake my head as the doctor waves her hand in front of me.

"Yes ma'am?" I look up at her and I feel embarrassed for allowing myself to daydream about Paige.

"What happened?" She reaches for my hand and I give it to her willingly. She begins to unwrap it and I can feel the fibers clinging on to the dried up blood. She looks at me with every pull she takes, but the pain doesn't phase me anymore. I've been shot at multiple times and have almost been blown to pieces by IEDs, this is no problem. "Som you going to tell me what happened? Or just keep staring at my sister?"

"What?" I look at Dr. Hastings and then look around and sure enough, there is Spencer walking into the clinic with stacks of folders and with an annoyed look on her face as she talks to a nurse. I smile at how Spencer quickly goes from annoyed to polite with the nurse.

"That girl you've been staring at is my little sister. Her name is Spencer, and she's single. Just saying." She gives me a smile, and I duck my head before letting her notice my blush.

"I know Spencer, and I wasn't staring at her, I was just spacing out." She notices how withdrawn I am after her comment about Spencer being single. She walks over and closes the curtain surrounding the bed, and turns back to me to continue to dig out pieces of glass that are still in my palm.

"Sorry about that comment about Spencer, it was really inappropriate. I just saw the way you were smiling at her and assumed you were interested; but you probably have a girlfriend already." I see her eyes quickly look up at me before falling to my damaged hand.  
"You know if we keep meeting like this, your hand will never heal." She smiles up at me as she finishes cleaning my cuts and stitches a few of the deeper cuts.

"What can I say? I like to live on the edge ma'am." I give her a small smile, and I hear her laugh. I should have said something about me not having a girlfriend, because I don't, and the closest person worthy of that title left me earlier today. Maybe I am gay, but no one ever has to know that.

"You're funny Emily. I'll be right back I'm going to go get you another splint and some more wrap." I nod my head with a smile as she pulls the curtain back revealing Spencer on the other side. All three of us are just there staring at one another in an awkward fashion before the two sisters greet each other.

"Sorry Melissa I didn't know you were with a patient, the nurse just said she last saw you here. Hi Emily." She looks down, and I see the doctor look at me with an arched eyebrow.

"Yeah, I was just about to leave when Emily here came in for some stitches. But I'm almost done, I'll be right back." She closes the curtain behind her, and I try and grab the towel to cover up my hand so Spencer wouldn't see.

"I thought you were with Hanna and Aria?" I ask while I patiently wait for the doctor to come back. I know she said the comment she made was inappropriate but this was even more so, leaving Spencer in the room with me. If I didn't know better, I would think she's playing matchmaker.

"Yeah I was, but then I got a call from Dr. Sullivan to pick up the new patient files for next week's appointments." She holds up a stack of folders with a weak smile. Ever since the peace offering, Spencer has been really nice whenever I see her, which is a relief since I don't have to worry about that anymore.

"Yay you huh?" I chuckle and I see her cream color cheeks darken as her smile widens. It was nice to actually see Spencer smile, instead of jumping at my throat whenever she saw me.

"Yes very exciting for me, and then I get to go home and write papers!" We both smile at each other before we share a small laugh, but I soon stopped when I felt the vibration of my phone in my basketball shorts. I hop off the bed and reach into my right pocket with my left hand, and see Tristen's name flash on the screen.

"Excuse me, Spencer." I open the curtain and answer the phone putting it up to my ear. "Hey Tris. Wha..."

"EMILY! You're okay? I saw the apartment door open, and then blood in the kitchen and in your room and you weren't here and I thought you were laying in a ditch somewhere!" He says frantically into the phone. I look over at Spencer who is watching me, but quickly moves her eyes when I catch her staring.

"Tris I'm fine. I had a little incident and was in a rush to get to the hospital, and I guess I didn't close the door. Is everything still there?" He takes a minute before answering my question, I can hearh is heavy breathing over the phone and I feel responsible. I know him, he was probably looking through every room with creases on his forehead the whole time.

"No, nothing is missing. Do you want me to go to the hospital?" I can hear the worry in his voice, and it makes stomach turn knowing that he cares so much for me. Yet, I don't care for myself in the way that I should.

"Excuse me miss? You can't use cell phones in the hospitals." I turn to look at a cute blonde nurse whose sees me, and smiles before stepping closer to me.

"Sorry ma'am, I forgot about phones in hospitals." The blonde nods and walks away but looks over her shoulder, and I flash her a smile for her understanding. She walks back to another nurse who then begin to converse as they both look over at me before whispering. "Hey Tris, I have to go, but I'll see you when I get home." Before he could get the last word in, like always, I just hang up the phone.

I walk back over to Spencer and Dr. Hastings who now had more supplies. She puts the splint on my finger and wraps my hand up into my wrist. After prescribing some antibiotics, she excuses herself before leaving to change out of her scrubs. I must have thanked her a hundred times before she actually made her way out of the clinic, waving me off and telling me that's what her job was. I say bye to Spencer and to thank her sister again before heading to the cashiers to pay for the visit. But Spencer's light touch on my shoulders causes me to stop walking.

"Emily? Paige came to the house and grabbed Evelyn taking her upstairs to her room, she never does that. She always stays downstairs when we are over. Hanna told us she was with you before, so did something happen?" Her attitude is different now, like the sudden change that I witnessed earlier with the nurse.

"Um yeah, we were just talking about what Evelyn wanted for her birthday and I made the mistake of bringing up Jason. After that she just became silent and left, I'm really sorry if I upset her. I'm still trying to get use to being around people and what not to say." I bring my hand up to rub the back of my neck as I wait for Spencer to jump down my throat. I knew us getting along couldn't have lasted long.

"Yeah, my brother seems to have that effect on her even while dead." She drops her hand, and I know I'm safe with the lie. I feel bad for lying to Spencer, but I still need to figure out how this gay thing works.

"Yeah. I'm still sorry though, I should get going. I guess I'll see you around."

* * *

"Tristen I'm fine. Really." I should have expected this; as soon as I walk into the apartment I get interrogated by my best friend.

"Obviously you're not Em. Care to tell me what's going on? You've been acting weird since this morning, and you didn't even tell me how the appointment went. So it's time to sit your ass down and talk to me." He stands near me with his arms crossed, and I feel like a little kid that's being punished by my dad or something. I walk over to the couch and fall with slumped shoulders and a defeated sigh.

"I just mess up everything, I messed up with the therapist today, and then with Paige. I don't understand why this is so hard for me." I bury my face in my hands when I feel the couch cushions become uneven from Tristen's weight. I feel his hand rub my back in a soothing way. Why is this so hard for me to just talk? I can talk to Tristen about things, but even then he has to be firm with me. It was easy to just talk about things unrelated to my experience, like with Paige for example; I was perfectly fine with talking about Evee or school or anything but me. Then comes Hanna, the bubbly blonde that has some kind of power to get me to open up to her. Maybe that's just because she was there for a few of my freak outs. Whatever the reason is, I want to figure out why I push Paige away. Why the woman I find myself thinking about the majority of my days is the one I run away from the most.

"How do you screw up talking to a therapist, I mean, don't they just listen to you? I mean the only way you could screw it up is if you..." He trails off as he makes the connection. "Em you didn't talk to the therapist? So you just sat there and stared for an hour?"

"Tristen I did talk, but I didn't get into detail. I mean what was I supposed to say? Oh hi I'm Emily, I was at war for four years and saw things no one should ever see? And I'm gay but I'm afraid to feel this way because I was sexually assaulted on base?" My hands flail everywhere to show emphasis to my point of how ridiculous that was. I couldn't just lay it out there for people to know.

"Actually yeah, that could have been a good start. Em don't be scared it's just talking." I guess the face that I had was amusing because Tristen starts laughing. "Em, you're making it harder than it actually is, don't think about it just talk." I sigh as I get up, and make my way to the kitchen grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge. I'm feeling exhausted all the time now, which is odd because when I was overseas I would be up 24 hours sometimes and it would be physically draining. But somehow I wasn't as exhausted as I am now. I'm guessing being emotionally drained gets you more tired than any physical activity could.

"I guess I could try that then, I have another appointment with her on Friday so we'll see where it'll take me." There's no way I'm going to mention that last part but hey whatever will make Tristen happy and off my back.

"Good." He smiles big, being proud of himself but it quickly fades.  
"So what about your hand and Paige?" I stop midgulp when I hear the woman's name, and I close my eyes remembering her soft lips on mine from earlier.

"Yeah she's another thing I screwed up. I started panicking after she kissed me, and she left. Then I guess I blacked out and I woke up with glass in my hand." He looks at my hand and I hide it to behind my back. "She fucking kissed me Tris, she wasn't suppose to do that. She was supposed to run away."

"Yeah and that's what she did Emily. She ran away, she left because you panicked instead of just letting yourself go. If she wouldn't have left, you would have run away from her, you always run away." Tristen raises his voice and I've never seen him like this before, not with me. He stands up and stomps off to his room before I could say anything. Well it seems like I'm not the only one that runs away from their problems.

I flop back on the couch and think about my session with the therapist. I had answered a few of her questions that weren't very deep without hesitation, but when it came to questions about my relationships that's when I froze. I close my eyes and finally relax, seeing as it would be the first time today.

* * *

(Earlier in the day)

"_So a colleague of mine mentioned your served our country, I hope you don't mind but I called in for them to fax me your psych evaluations." She writes on her notebook and I sit there messing with my hands. I don't know why she wouldn't do that, I should have known. They did psych evaluations on us before boot camp, and after our tours to make sure we were still fit for duty. But I also had another psych evaluation after 'that night'._

_ "No it's fine ma'am." I keep fidgeting with my fingers avoiding looking up at her. _

_ "So why don't you tell me a little about your tours Emily? How long were they? And how many did you do?"_

_ "Well I did two tours; my first one was my longest, being a little bit over two years, while my second was only a year and half due to the ambush." I shift in my seat, but am no longer fidgeting with my fingers. I feel them move up my arm and start circling my bullet wound through my long sleeve shirt. _

_ "Did you get hurt during the ambush?" Out of the corner of my eye I see her tapping her pen lightly on the top of her notepad._

_ "Yes ma'am. I was shot in the leg and in the arm, that's what ended my tour early. I had to go to rehab for my arm because I couldn't move it after." _

_ "That must have been hard for you, to suddenly just return home. How long have you been back Emily?" _

_ "I've been back for about four months, but I just came to Rosewood about two weeks ago to go to Hollis." I make my hand drop from my sleeve, and just rest my hands on my lap. I finally look up at her for the first time during our session. She looked kinder now; when I had first walked in she intimidated me. But now she seems to just be focused on getting me to open up. _

_ "How are you adjusting here in Rosewood?"_

_ "Fine, much better than I was in New York City. Its quiet here, peaceful actually much more quiet than the city. People are friendlier here." At that moment, I looked towards the door to where I know Spencer's desk is located at but quickly look away. "And some just take time to warm up."_

_ "So you've made friends here? And how are they with helping you with maintaining a normal life?" I feel like I have a deadly disease that I just have to live with, by the way that she's making it sound. _

_ "Yes ma'am, I'm actually friends with your receptionist, Spencer." She looks taken aback by my words, and I think that maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that. _

_ "Really? Are you also friends with Aria and Hanna and Paige?" _

_ "Yeah I go to school with Spencer, Aria and Hanna; but Paige is my boss." I rub the back of my neck, and look away as her name leaves my lips. I could feel my heart pounding at the mere thought of her. I look up at the therapist, and she has a quirk in her eyebrow before she nods and writes something down. "They've been really understanding of it and helping me adjust to everything."_

_ "So... Emily are you involved with anyone right now?" My head shoots up, and I start to panic for some reason.  
"I only ask because in situations like yours, sometimes bringing in a loved one that wasn't there through the experience can cause delay in your adapting back to society. Or sometimes they can help with readjusting to normal life, make it easier because you have someone to lean on."_

_ "No I'm not involved with anyone right now, but I do think I'm beginning to have feelings for someone." Again I hang my head, and try to decide if that was the right thing to say, or if I should have just not said anything._

_ "Why don't you tell me about this person?" I don't say anything, and I keep my eyes on the floor. We sit in silence with my hands tucked under my thighs, a nervous habit I picked up in Iraq. I wish that the time would go by faster, because this was beginning to get uncomfortable. I can sense the therapist staring at me, and I shift under her stare keeping my eyes on my feet. All of a sudden my shoe laces are the most interesting thing in the world right now, and I can't take my eyes off of them. I don't even think I'm blinking. I peek up to see what the therapist is doing and she is just writing in her notepad before looking at her clock._

_ "Well Emily, our time is up, but I would really like it if we met again. Maybe talk a little bit more in detail about how you are adjusting, or about your time overseas. Or about anything really, you have final say about what we talk about during our sessions." She looks up at me with a kind smile, and a part of me wants to apologize for wasting her time, I'm sure she had other patients that needed her help more._

_ "Not trying to be rude ma'am, but do you think I need to have another session, like do you think there is something wrong with me?" I ask looking her in the eyes and her smile fades. She looks down at her notebook, and closes the notes leaning over it and looking me in the eyes._

_ "I feel that new veterans should have a few sessions, just so that I can make sure they are adjusting well. I know it is difficult to come back and readjust to living in a society you have been away from for month's; even years at a time. So you don't have to come back for a second session, but I recommend that you do. The choice is yours. And also Emily, sometimes it's nice just to talk to someone about things; that doesn't mean that there is anything wrong with you." She ended her sentence with a slight smile, and I returned it. I guess it couldn't hurt to come back, maybe talk about my blackouts or something, but not about Paige. Not about my love life, well lack thereof. But then if I could back again, it'll make me weak, like I can't handle myself out in the real world. Shit. What do I do? I thank the doctor for her time and shake her hand before exiting her office. I close the door behind me, and stand outside the door and hang my head trying to figure out what I'm going to do._

_ "Emily? Are you okay?" I hear the low husky voice, and my head immediately snaps up. Spencer. I forgot for a minute that she worked here, and she could tell Paige or Hanna that I was here. Great, now both ladies will think I'm crazier then I was before._

_ "Yeah. Yeah I'm fine." I flash a smile her way, a forced one, but still it was a smile to reassure her that I was fine. She didn't know me well enough to know what a real smile looked like. But then again every time I was around Paige or Evelyn I smiled, and that was genuine. _

_ "Fake." She began typing on the computer while I looked at her with a perplexed expression. Did she really just call me fake? She looks up with a raised eyebrow. "I meant your smile. It's fake, just like the 'I'm fine' line." She looks up at me with a smirk and her eyebrow still raised, as if to test me. I let out a small laugh, and place my elbows on the small counter that was a part of the receptionist area. I hang my head and look at her with a smile._

_ "You're very observant Spencer but I really am fine." I give her a small smile, and she looks at me skeptically. "Can I make an appointment for a second session please?" I know she wants to ask a question, but she resists and follows her protocol. I settle on a date and she hands me a card with the appointment time and helps the next patient that had just come in. I look back and wave at Spencer who gives me a smile with a nod as I leave to begin the rest of my day._

* * *

** Paige's POV**

I wish that this didn't affect me as much as it actually does. When I got home, the girls were laughing and watching TV with their books spread out throughout the living room. Evee's laugh radiated and amplified the other girls laugh, and I knew that that's what I needed. I had forced myself to not cry on the ride back from Emily's apartment, but I couldn't help the few stray tears that came running down my cheek in the car. It hurt, this was the second day in a row that I had come back from Emily's upset to the point of tears. I've been through a lot in the last year, and thought that I didn't have any more tears left in me or that something more serious would cause me to cry. But this was the worst feeling in the world, rejection. I don't know what I was thinking when I kissed Emily on her couch, but as soon as she started pacing I instantly regretted it.

I walk into the living room and when Spencer sees me her laughing quickly stops, drawing the attention of the other three girls.

"Paige are you okay?" Spencer gets up and walks over to me, and the rest of the girls follow her lead.

"Mommy! Thoughts you wid Emmy?" My beautiful daughter comes up to me, and I wish that it could just be me and her. I bend down and she wraps her arms around my neck, and I place my hand on her back and inhale the sweet strawberry scent of her damp hair.

"I was, but I wanted to come home and spend time with my babygirl." I whisper in her ear and I can feel her smile into my neck. She pulls herself back and places her hands on either side of my cheeks and gives me a kiss on my nose. This little girl was perfect, and she was mine. I smile and bring her head down to rest against my shoulder and begin to walk up the stairs.

"Paige…" I hear Hanna say before reaching the top of the stairs, I stop with my daughter in my hands.

"I'm fine Han. I just want to spend the rest of the afternoon with Evee, I never get alone time with her anymore. I'll see you girls later." And with that I start to walk to Evee's room, and open the door to her starry night room.

I remember when I first decided to do this for Evee, was when Jason was still alive. It was actually his idea but he was never the artistic type. But, after he died Evee would run into my room crying in the middle of the night until eventually there was no use in tucking her into her bed. One day while she was at daycare and I was home alone during one of my break downs, I had torn my room apart. I couldn't keep looking at the things in the room that we had picked out together, and not break down in tears. For the first few months after his death I couldn't sleep. I would stare around the room, and let out silent sobs at the room full of memories.

As I was sitting in my destroyed room, I remember the horrified looks on Hanna and Evee's face. Tears streaming down both girls faces as Evee turns into Hanna's shoulder crying her little eyes out. After that night, I had sent them to my dad's for a few days so I could put myself together again. I redid both my room and Evee's room, taking out all my frustration out on the art on Evee's walls. Art had always been an outlet for me, but I had rarely painted since Evee was born. But I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it and what satisfaction it brought me.

And as I look at my daughter every time she walks into her room, I'm glad I did this for her. It never fails to amaze me that every time she walks in, she spins around taking in the starry night before doing whatever it was she was doing. I even find myself spinning around, in disbelief that I was capable of doing this.

"Mommy?" I turn and look at Evee holding out a photography book that Aria had gotten her for her last birthday. "Please?" I smile and pick up my little girl, and sit her down on the bed with her head tucked under my arm wiggling her way into a comfortable position. We look at photographs of famous landmarks from all around the world; and with every picture Evee would point saying that she wanted to visit the places. And I smiled weakly, hoping that one day I might be able to take her to one of these places some day in the future. We spent the rest of the night talking about her day with Hanna, and how Spencer and Aria had given her candy but that it was a secret. She quickly covered her mouth as the information slipped out, and I begin laughing, little kids were amongst the only people who told the truth, well aside from drunks.

I had totally forgotten about Emily and the whole situation as I was spending time with my daughter and trying to figure out what to get her for her birthday. I even fell asleep alongside my daughter with her glowing stars surrounding us. I probably would have stayed there, if I hadn't felt the vibration in my jean pocket. I sluggishly roll off the bed and lean my back against Evee's bed moving the hair out of her face to give her a kiss before walking out her room.

**_I'm sorry about today and yesterday. I'm just really sorry for everything.-Em_**

I throw my phone on the pillow as I walk over to the bathroom, and start the water for a bath. I'm so happy that I finally have few days off this week. That way I can pay attention to Evee's party at the end of the week, and maybe avoid Emily until I can look her in the eyes without feeling rejected. But I feel like that might take a while. I strip down and sink my body into the tub of warm water and soak my body in the soapy water dipping my head under the bubbles and holding my breath for as long as I can.

"Paige?" My eyes shoot open underwater and I see Hanna's blurry blonde hair and feel my eyes sting. I come up and rub my eyes as Hanna sits down adjacent from me outside of the tub and waits for me to say something. "So what's the deal?"

"I told you that I would tell- " She splashes water in my face, and I quickly wipe the soap out of my eyes and stare at her stern face.

"I know what you said and I don't care. We talk about everything Paige, we're sisters; so why won't you talk to me about this?" She looks hurt as she brings her knees up so her chest and just stares at me. We used to do this all the time when we were growing up; when one of us was upset we would come to the bathroom and talk about everything. There was a certain solace that I felt in the bathroom; it's where I did my thinking while I was in the shower and where I could be alone with my thoughts.

"Hanna, I just can't. I don't want to talk about it, I just want to forget everything that happened." I smooth my hair back and sink a bit more into the water.

"What happened? Because this is the second time you've come home with your eyes puffy and have taken Evee away from us when we were spending with her."

"She kissed me yesterday and left, then today I kissed her and she basically rejected me and was freaking out. So I left, so I think your theory about her always eyeing me isn't the best observation you've made."

"Em and I were talking yesterday, and she's really been struggling since she came back. I think she just needs a friend Paige; and then when she's ready you can attack each other's faces." I crack a smile and look at my vibrant sister.

"When did you become the mature one Han?" I splash her with some water, and she gets up and dunks my head in the water playfully before heading for the doorway. She stops at the door way and looks at me with another one of her serious looks. I get out of the tub wrapping the towel over my body and wait for her to say something because I can tell something is on her mind.

"I'm not wrong about this Paige, she likes you but maybe she's just scared, I mean she kissed you first." And with that she leaves my room and leaves me there dumbfounded. Maybe she's right, and the way that I am reacting to this isn't the best way to go about it. I squeeze out my hair and walk over to my bed where my phone is lying face down on my pillow. Emily's message is still on the screen so I begin to type out a message.

** _Emily. Don't apologize, just take your time figuring things out. I'm hear if you want to talk though.-Paige_**

I change into my pajamas and lay down relaxing and clearing my mind for the grueling week ahead of me of working and preparing for Evee's party.

* * *

I haven't really heard much from Emily this past week and I wish that I would have. I haven't even seen her at the Grille, since my mom's been back she's been taking over the Grille and stepping up to owning the business. With afternoons off, I can run around town to get things ready for Evee's 4th birthday party. Leave it up to my little girl to break little girl boundaries and not want a typical princess party. I should have known better when I had asked her what she wanted the theme of her party to be. Stars. It's not a surprise, so I shouldn't have expected anything else from my rebellious daughter. Usually Spencer would be helping me with this kind of thing, I mean those Hastings women love to throw parties but she has been busy with work. So I've been stealing Hanna away from the Grille whenever I can.

"So… Han have you talked to Emily?" I say as we walk around the party store looking for table cloths of a blue sky with stars. The day before the party; and I leave the essential things for the last minute, so of course I can't find it.

"Yeah I have actually, but only at work. We haven't talked at school, but I have noticed she's been hanging out with Spencer though. I think it's weird, but whatever at least it's better than them biting each other's heads off." Hanna moves down the aisle, but I stay in the same spot. I didn't have a good feeling about them hanging out together. And I've seen the way Spencer has been looking at Emily past couple of days, she likes her, so I'm not just over analyzing because I know. It would be a lie if I said it didn't irritate me that Spencer and Emily are hanging out. But, I was listening to Hanna and respecting Emily by not bringing it up. We've had two encounters this week; they were short but not as awkward as I thought they would be like. It actually kind of seemed like nothing had happened between us. I don't know whether that makes me happy to know it didn't affect our friendship, or sad for that exact reason. "Earth to Paige?" Hanna is waving her hands in front of me, and her blue orbs are looking at me with a hint of concern.

"Yeah it's good they're getting along now." I clench my jaw, and walk past Hanna continuing my search for party items. Evee invited her whole class which meant about 15 little ones running around, and also Jason and Spencer's family are attending too. Haley's presence for the party was questionable, but I know that my dad and mom would be coming in from Philly for her party so I had to make sure everything went well.

"Don't worry about Spemily, it's not going to happen. Em likes you, Spencer I think likes someone else but she won't tell me or Aria."

"Spemily? God and I wondered where Evee got that from, I should have figured. You know she called us Panna for a good month before I finally said something. Why did you teach her that anyways?" I shake my head as I walk alongside my sister, looking at all the party items and stopping at some of the party favors that looked interesting.

"Because she is adorable, and everything she says is cute. So the name pairings are already cute, and Evee saying them just makes them irresistible. Come on, you know they make you smile. I have to come up with one for you and Emily when you two finally go out, then I'll tell Evee." She makes an evil smile while pondering the thought.

"Don't you dare. This name pairing thing stops now. The only one we'll keep is Sparia, and that's only because Evee made that one up without the help of her aunt." I stare at Hanna as my teasing tone makes her blush, but then I realize that her eyes are directed behind me. I look out the store window and see a smiling Tristen, Emily and Evee. Emily had asked me yesterday if she could take Evee out shopping to get an idea of what to get her for her birthday, and of course I said yes. I mean while asking the question, her dimples were exposed, and what can I say I'm a sucker for dimples, especially Emily's. I look back at Hanna who is just fixated on Tristen, and I think I even see her bite her lip slightly. I move out of her line of vision, and I can tell she doesn't notice my movement as I stand next to her looking out the window too. "Hanna you're drooling." I bump her shoulder, and she quickly moves her hand to her mouth.

"Not funny." She crosses her arms and looks at me.

"That's what you get for teaching my daughter things like name pairings. Why don't you just talk to Tristen? He seemed nice when I talked to him." We finally find everything that we needed for the party towards the back of the store, and make our way to the cash register.

"Paige I know you haven't dated in a looooong time, so I'll refresh your memory. He is supposed to talk to me, not the other way around. I'll look desperate." She says matter of factly while pulling out her wallet. I tried to stop her while getting my debit card out, but she finally elbows in the stomach and smiles politely at the cashier while handing her the money.

"Was that really necessary Han? And yeah drooling whenever he's around isn't desperate. You act starstuck or something whenever he's around. Look he's at Leon's cupcakes, you can talk to him." We grab our bags and head out of the Party shop, and across the street.

"Paige stop!" I pull her closer to the cupcake shop, and I have a devilish smile on my face as I find Hanna tense under my grip. With one final tug towards me I quickly duck, landing Hanna face to face with Tristen. I have a satisfied smile on my face when I hear Emily from behind me.

"Well played Paige, I had been trying to get him to talk to Han this whole week." She smiles, and the sight of her carrying a sleeping Evee against her chest warms my heart. I know that I'm supposed to just be her friend, but I can't help study her body. She's rocking from side to side rubbing Evee's back with Evee's face nuzzled closely to Emily's neck. I wish I could switch places with my daughter because I would do anything to be that close to Emily. To feel her warm skin against mine, to feel safe and forget all my problems even if it was for the length of a simple kiss.

"Yeah, I couldn't take it anymore, she was literally drooling Em." I look over my shoulder, and see that their interaction was cute with both being pretty shy. I have never seen Hanna speechless so I just smile turning back to Emily. I notice her eyes linger over my body before they snap up and I see her red cheeks.

"Um yeah, he hangs out at the Grille when we are working and just stares at her. I tell him he's creepy but he still does it." She shrugs with a smirk, and she adjusts Evee's body and I see her arm muscles flex muscles flex through her black t shirt. I stare at her arms and I can feel my heart flutter as I bite my lower lip slightly, she is my weakness. I don't know how I'm going to deal with just being friends with her because all I want to do right now is kiss her, hard. "Um I got you a cupcake. I was going to just send it home with Evee when I dropped her off." She hands me the little white box with a cupcake sticker on it. I can see her hand tremble just a bit while I grab the box.

"Thank you, you didn't have to do that. But here, let me take her off your hands, I know she can be a bit heavy." I reach for her and Emily just smiles while sitting down at the outside table.

"Its fine, I don't mind it. I used to carry a lot more with my armor. Besides it's actually calming to feel her breathing, takes my mind of things. Thank you for letting me borrow her today." She smiles and rests her head against Evee and again I feel my heart flutter. I can feel my heart beating hard against my chest at the amazing scene. I can't believe how good Emily is with her, and how much Evee loves being around her. I think just looking at the way that they interact with each other just make Emily that much more attractive to me, the way that she cares about her is really just a turn on. Like the more I try to just be there for her as a friend and help her, the more I realize my feelings for her and want to ignore what Hanna said. "Evee said you liked the coconut cupcakes."

"Yeah I do, thank you again for the cupcake. So how are you doing? I heard from Aria that you went to see Dr. Sullivan." I ask while taking out the cupcake, and looking over my shoulder to hear Hanna laughing with Tristen at the table adjacent to us. I smile as I turn back to face Emily, I notice Emily is just playing with a strand of Evee's hair. Maybe I shouldn't have asked about Dr. Sullivan, I know that Jason always hated when I asked about his sessions with her. "Actually forget I asked. I just wanted to know if you were doing okay. Wait what the hell happened to your hand? " I drop the cupcake and notice that she had stitches along with her splint that she's been sporting for the last two weeks.

"Oh um, Saturday I went to the ER because I had shards of glass embedded in my hand." She tries to hide her hand under the table, but I reach for it before she can take it out of sight. I graze my fingers lightly over her wounds and for the moment I don't care that I'm not restraining myself for touching her because this is my fault.

"Saturday? The day that we …? " My mind trails off as I think about what happened that day. We kissed and after she started pacing I remember her fists were balled up and her eyes her tightly close. I could sense that day that she was trying to calm herself, and the same thing happened that day at the Grille when she broke her finger. After Emily had heard what Spencer's opinion was of her she left the Grille the same way, coming back bleeding. The first day that we kissed at the park, when I went to her apartment after she left I saw that she had fresh bruises and scratches. Do I make her feel this way? Do I make her angry enough to hurt herself?

"Paige, it's not what you think..." She looks sad now as I quickly retract my hands from her palm and reach for Evelyn. She wakes up a bit but falls back to sleep with her head resting on my shoulders. "Paige just let me explain."

"I understand perfectly Emily. I get it, it's a pattern, every time something happens between us you come out with a new injury. Look I care about you, and I'll pretend that nothing happened between us, even though I hate it but I can't be the reason for you getting angry enough to hurt yourself." I turn to walk away from Emily, and I notice that Tristen and Hanna are looking at us. I feel my eyes start to water as I quickly walk past them holding the back of Evelyn's head.

"Paige!" I hear Hanna and Emily yell in unison as I settle into my car and begin to drive away. I felt my heart sink when I finally put the pieces together, I was the reason for the pain I saw in Emily's eyes right before she injured herself. I know I probably wasn't one only reason but I was a part of it.

I just wanted to help her but instead I feel like I was causing more damage than good.

How can you be so close to the person who is obviously perfect for you but yet be so far?


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/N:**__ Hello awesome people! So just want to say that this chapter was suppose to be longer(like almost 15k words!) but decided to spit it up so I had an update for you awesome readers. I hope you enjoy and are patient with me. This story takes me a bit longer to update just because it's way longer then TGWTS(other fic.) SO please I'm doing my best to update them as much as i can._

_Usually I respond to all the reviews but I'm super tired today but I appreciate the reviews and will respond to them next time. So please let me know what you think. Thank you again for all the favorites, follows and reviews on the story. I love you all and please enjoy little Evee's birthday party chapter(Part 1)_

* * *

**Chapter 9**

**Emily's POV**

Well that didn't happen the way that I expected. Fuck. Why do I continue to screw things up? I watch as Paige's car slowly disappears into the horizon and my eyes water as I remember the feeling of Evelyn being ripped away from me by Paige. Today was such a good day, spending it with Evelyn and getting to know both her and Paige better. The little one sure knew how to talk someone's ear off, but neither Tristen nor I minded.

This whole week has got me thinking more about Paige, and I realize that my feelings for her aren't going away. I've been talking to Spencer about being gay, and how she came to terms with it. She's been really good about answering my questions, and just sharing her experience with it. Every day after school we've been hanging out at the Brew talking about that, as well as just getting to know each other. Spencer is actually pretty amazing; she's easy to talk to just like Paige and she's very intellectual. She's asked me a few times if there was someone that was catching my eye and that was making me ask her these questions. So every time I tell her that there isn't anybody special and that I've been facing this question for an awhile. This is true to a certain extent, because Paige is special. Everything about her is special, and I just screwed it up by not speaking up. But what would I have said? That I liked her? That I'm gay and never want to stop kissing her? No I couldn't do that, we aren't teenagers, we can't just experiment with these feelings because there was Evelyn.

My intention was to come to terms with my infatuation with Paige and just forget it. Just like what I did with Maddie, but then again with Maddie I wasn't as consumed with her as I am with Paige. Spencer tells me that whether I'm gay or straight that feelings are feelings that they aren't going to change overnight. But what Spencer doesn't know, is that my feelings for Paige did change almost overnight.

I think about all of Spencer's words from this week, as I was talking to Paige before she left. I was even thinking about telling her how I was feeling, but then I put my foot in my mouth.

"Em..." Hanna's voice breaks through my thoughts, and I realize that tears are freely falling down my cheek. I quickly wipe my eyes and pull myself together before turning to Hanna and Tristen. Tristen is standing guard just in case I lose it and have another blackout. But Hanna steps closer to me, making me stumble back fearing that exact reaction might happen. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Hanna; I think I'm going to just go to the apartment. It's been a long day but I guess I'll see you tomorrow." I turn walking quickly to my apartment, bringing my shopping bags up the stairs before collapsing to the floor. I can't keep doing this; keep fighting this urge to leave reality.

My breathing gets heavy as I try to calm myself down by putting my hands over my head letting my chest rise and fall. I feel myself getting worse and begin to fade into the darkness that is in my head when my eyes lock onto a box lying on the floor next to one of my shopping bags. The blurry darkness disappears as I reach for the box, grazing my fingers over the package that is Evelyn's birthday present. I smile as I stare at the box and think of the little girls' smile as she opens it. My breathing slows and I eventually drop my arm as I get up and begin cleaning the shopping bags. I wrap up her present, with the thought of the little girl witnessing my blackout, and how it could be detrimental to her perception of me. That thought alone gave me reason enough to calm down and to stop myself from proving Paige right once again.

* * *

**Paige's POV**

So much to do, so much to do. It's almost two o'clock, and I'm not even close to being done setting up. Aria has been helping me since the morning, but even with her help I can't seem to get my shit together. Usually Spencer and Hanna would be helping me too, but I asked them to just come when it started because I didn't need their help. Hanna called me last night after I got home from my outbursts with Emily, and I wasn't in the best of moods. I told her that I wanted to be alone in my house. I know when the words left my mouth last night that they strung her. When my parents moved away two years ago they left me and Hanna the house. At the time Hanna was going to go to a out of state school, so leaving me the house for my family. She swore that she would never come back to Rosewood permanently, so she signed her part of the house over to me.

But when her scholarship fell through, she ended up going to Hollis and staying here but the house was still under my name. So I know that using that one thing against her hits her hard, because of everything leading and following her giving it up. I love Hanna, and she's helped me through so much, I don't think I would have been able to get through Jason's death without her. So I really feel like a bitch about how I acted with her.

As for Spencer, I know that if she's here she'll ask questions just like Hanna would. I can't deal with the questions from her, or the questions from me to her about whatever's going on between them. A part of me what's to know what's going on, but some other part me feels like I shouldn't care if something was going on. Clearly, Emily wanted to talk to Spencer over Hanna or me this week. I grip on to the edge of my granite countertop as I try and fight back tears. I stare out the window that looks over the porch where Aria is setting up the tables. I feel anger rise up my body as I think about how Spencer might be the better person to help her. Why did I like Emily so much? I don't even know if she likes girls, she could have just wanted to experiment or something. Why did I push myself on her? And my outbursts yesterday didn't help much for either of us. I probably should apologize to her for that, she didn't deserve me yelling at her, especially if she hurts herself after things like that. Shit. I didn't even think about how my outburst would affect her after I left. Shit, shit, shit. I should call her or something to make sure she's okay.

"There's my girl!" I quickly freeze as I hear my dad's robust voice fill the kitchen. I hastily wipe the tears before turning to greet my parents with a forceful smile. "Honey are you okay?" I feel the vibrations of his voice through his chest as I press myself into him for a hug. I missed my dad, the last time I saw him was about 8 months ago when he came down with Hanna and Evelyn after my meltdown. He came to make sure I was okay, and I could tell he was concerned so he stayed for a few days before heading back up to Buffalo.

"Yeah I'm fine dad. I just missed you." I look over to Ashley and give her a bigger hug as I grip on to her back. "I missed you too mom. I'm glad you two made it, I was worried that there was going to be last minute business to take care of." I give them both another hug but this time together.

"We'll there was but there was no way we were going to miss our grandbaby's birthday. Where is she by the way?" My dad looks around the kitchen and living room and starts walking outside to say hi to Aria before coming back inside. He looks at me with a impatient face, and I realize that I hadn't answered him. I just smile and point upstairs and he smiles before happily leaves to rush up the stairs. Ashley and I both laugh at my dad as he stumbles slightly while trying to skip a stair.

"So what's going on Paige?" I walk over to the back yard where Aria has finished setting up, and I tell her that I could handle the rest of the setting up. I thank her before she leaves. Ashley and I sit outside on the chair swing across the yard, and we sit in silence until she comes closer to me and bring her arm around my shoulder. She brings me closer to her so my head could rest on her shoulder and I can finally relax. "Hanna called me last night in tears Paige. So what's going on? It's not like you two to fight." She's smoothed my hair back, and was speaking softly to me. A small tear rolls down my cheek before I squeeze my eyes shut.

"I told her I wanted to be alone in MY house..." My voice becomes small as I can feel her staring down at me. "I got into an argument with ...a friend yesterday and I took it out on Hanna." The swing begins to slow down just slightly and I feel Ashley's hand wipe my tears away. This is why Ashley has earned the title of 'mother' from me, because even though I'm not her biological child she still treats Hanna and I the same. Even though I upset her child, she still is here to comfort me and to hear my side of the story.

"Was it Spencer who you got in a fight with? Because I don't see either of them here helping you." I shake my head as I imagine Emily's face when I took Evee from her arms. "Was it a boy?" Without looking up I can picture Ashley with a raised eyebrow.

"No, just a friend, her name is Emily." I cringe as I hear my own words, 'just a friend' yeah that's exactly what we were. "Can I tell you something and you not tell dad please?" I look up at her with pleading eyes and I notice her red lips turn upwards. As I open my mouth I hear someone come through the side door calling my name.

"Hi Ms. McCullers. I have an order of three dozen cupcakes for you and Ms. Evelyn." The cheeky girl with the white uniform and boxes almost covering her face appears and I get up instantly.

"Hey Jaime, thank you but I didn't order any cupcakes." I grab the boxes and set them down on the table looking really confused. The teenager had graduated from Rosewood High last spring and had been serving my family at the cupcake shop since she was 10. Her uncle use to own the shop, and that was actually my first job as a kid. Leon had always had a soft spot for me and little Evee until he died a few months ago.

"A woman came by yesterday with Ms. Evelyn and ordered cupcakes for today. She was supposed to pick them up but called this morning to see if we could deliver them." Jaime smiles at me and I return the favor. The girls' dark skin had spots of flour and even had batter on her white uniform. Her hat is backwards showing the strap adjustments tightly over her forehead. I could see the dark bags under her eyes; even through her brown skin they were noticeable.

"Can I see the order ticket Jaime?" She reaches for the pocket in her apron to go through the order receipts to find the right one. She rips out the ticket and hands it to me before waving to Ashley.

"Hi Mrs. McCullers. It's been awhile since you've been down to the shop. I hope Buffalo is treating you well." I overhear as I look at the ticket. Of course it was Emily. I guess Evee had convinced her with her adorable self to go to the cupcake shop. A dozen German chocolate which was Evelyn's favorite, a dozen vanilla, Hanna's favorite and a dozen red velvet cupcakes, which was one of my favorites after coconut. I smile weakly as I look at the ticket and see her signature at the bottom. She was going to bring them and probably thought against it after yesterday.

"Oh Ms. McCullers, there isn't a dozen red velvets though. There was a last minute change. Ms. Fields replace one of the red velvets with another cupcake. I should probably head back to the shop now. It was nice seeing you two again. Please say happy birthday to Ms. Evelyn for me." Jaime tips her Leon's Cupcake hat before turning. I rush over to her with some money for a tip but she waves me off. "Ms. Fields already left a generous tip. I wouldn't feel right taking more from you, Ms. McCullers."

"Thank you again Jaime, call me Paige though, we've known each other long enough for you to call me by my first name." I say with a smile before turning to head back up the porch to where Ashley opened up the cupcake box. I walk and see that there is one cupcake with the red velvets that has writing on it as I approach closer I can see what it says. I pick up the cupcake feel the corners of my lips turn up. It's a coconut cupcake with the word 'sorry' written out in chocolate sprinkles on top of the coconut frosting. I begin to pull out my phone when I hear little footsteps and see her high ponytail bounce up as she climbs the chair.

"Oh they here!" She looks over the cupcakes licking her lips and wanting to reach for one but her hands come back to her sides. "Grandma Ashley!" The little girl reaches for Ashley jumping into her chest and kissing her cheek. "Sees what Emmy gets me" She points at the box of cupcakes.

"Hello birthday girl. And yeah I see. Who's Emmy?" Both girls look at me and Evelyn begins to get giddy as I just smile and nod my head.

"Emmy's me n mamas bestest friends. She like daddy. Tristi's bestest friends too." She begins to tell Ashley about Emily and Tristen, while taking her to the porch swing and sitting down excitedly as she talks about her best friend. My dad and I bring the cupcakes inside, and get the rest of the food out and ready to be served for when the people start coming. The weather was perfect for enjoying being outside without it being too hot or too cold. All week it had been raining, and I was afraid that the party would have to be moved inside but yesterday the weather started clearing out.

My dad and I start getting the food and putting it outside, seeing as it's just before the party, and people would be arriving any minute. There was potato salad, macaroni salad, a garden salad, chips and dip just to start off the guests. My dad and I are talking when I hear more voices and as we reach the backyard to see who it is, I stand just a bit more upright.

"Hi Mrs. DiLaurentis." I set the food down and walk over to her giving her a hug. As I let go a see a blonde who I wish was Hanna but it's not and I guess I saw this coming. "Hey Alison." The blonde comes up and gives me a kiss on each cheek but I don't really react.

"Hey Paigey" She says in a teasing way but she quickly forgets about me when she sees Evee. She walks over to her and Evee looks very happy to see her. "Hey Ev-monster. Did you miss me?" Alison holds her hands out and I see Evee leap for Alison's arms, wrapping her little arms around Ali's neck. Their relationship I will never understand, Ali was always a bully in high school, even to her friends like Spencer, Aria and Hanna. So when I had Evee I was a bit unprepared about how she would be with her but whenever she's around Evee it's like she's a different person.

I talk a bit with Jason's mom about how I need to bring Evelyn over to their house more, because she's grown so much. She also asks where my 'gang' was, and I just simply left saying I had to get some more food. I always felt intimated by Mrs. D. I don't know if it's from the professional attire she always wears or maybe just the hard look she has plaster on her face all the time. Mrs. D was a nice lady who looks like an older version of Alison. Except Alison had blonde hair like Hanna and Mrs. D had dirty blonde hair but they both shared the same bright blue eyes. Another difference was the height; Alison was a few inches shorter than me while her mom was an inch or two taller.

More people had shown up by the time I came back outside with some more snacks. The children that had just arrived run up the stairs handing me Evee's present, before making their way to Ali and Evee to greet her. I greet all the parents, encouraging them to stay or telling them that their child will be safe if they leave them here. I finally spot Hanna, Tristen and Aria coming in, so I make my way over to them. I crash into Hanna giving her a hug and saying sorry and that I was a bitch to her. She hugs me back and flashes me her smile that I missed.

"Where are Spencer and Emily?" I look behind them but see more kids from Evee's class coming in. Where was Emily? I needed to make sure she was okay and apologize for what I said.

"Spencer's out by the car getting something." Aria tells me as she looks around to everyone at the party. I still wait for the part of the information that I actually wanted to hear. Hanna and Tristen are avoiding eye contact with me, and that just makes me even more worried and impatient.

"Emily said she might not come and told me to give this to Evee." Tristen hands me a bag that is navy blue with a shooting star pattern throughout the bag. My heart sinks as I let the information settle in. I take the bag and walk up the deck to the table where all the presents are, and Hanna follows me up.

"She's going to come sis, just be patient."

"I screwed up yesterday, with you and Emily. God I hate how she affects me like this. We aren't even together and she has this hold on me." I put the present down, and I sigh out of frustration while burying my face in my hands. I feel Hanna hug me and her pat my back.

"I forgive you for yesterday, but I was just trying to help. I should have just given you your space. You might think that you don't have a hold on her, but just think about it. Think about what you said yesterday to her, you might have been speaking out of anger but actually remember your words. You have more of a hold on her then you think." Hanna leaves me with my mouth opened and dumbfounded. I don't know why she's been so insightful lately, but it helps. I stand there thinking about yesterday and I understand what Hanna is talking about. I smile to myself for what I've figured out and hope that I'll see her here but if not I'll come to her.

The rest of the kids arrive at the party, and slowly but surely Evee is interacting with the other kids. But every now and then gets pulled away by family. Spencer's parents come and greet me with a brief hug. Mrs. Hastings looks tired and a bit sad looking around at all the kids. Evee isn't her blood grandchild, and I can see that she still loves Evee but that she wishes Melissa or Spencer had kids of their own. Mr. Hastings greets Evee by picking her up and throwing her up in the air and catching her into a bear hug.

I finally settle into one of the tables with Hanna, Tristen, Aria, and Melissa. Melissa, Aria and I are talking when we hear the voice of Alison.

"So Spence finally got herself a girl?" I whip my head back where Alison is standing behind me, and she points towards the top of the deck where Spencer and Emily are linked arm and arm. As they come down the deck stairs. Is this seriously happening? I look over at Hanna and Tristen who have their jaws dropped as they two girls come down the stairs. I feel myself grip onto the chair railing and my jaw clench as I see them laughing and smiling the whole way down. I can also feel eyes staring at me and out of the counter of my eye I see a smirk form on Alison's face. I feel her lean closer to me and her hot breath on my neck was making me uneasy. "Looks like Paigey wants the girl too." I glare up at Alison but her smirk remains as the girls come closer to the table. Alison slithers her way over to Emily and I avert my eyes. "Hi I'm Alison. I don't believe we've met."

A fiery sensation arises in my cheeks and up my neck. I grip onto my knees as I continue to stare away from the interactions going on around me. I hear Melissa whisper to Aria that she knew they would get together, almost bragging. By now my face is probably a bright red, so I keep my face down.

"Um no we haven't I'm Emily, friend of the little cutie on the swing." It was so great to hear her voice and to know she was okay. That was the only think that stopped my heart from sinking more into my stomach. "I'm also friends with these girls. Hey everyone!" Everyone but me greets Emily in unison and Spencer takes a seat next to Aria, while Emily sits next to Melissa and across from me. Alison takes her place behind me again and rests her hands on my shoulder. I slightly tense up at her touch.

"Oh I'm that little cuties Aunt. And related to almost everyone at this table." I hear the smile in her voice and that one comment catches the attention of everyone at the table making everyone look at Alison even me. I see Emily's warm eyes staring at me as I turn back but quickly look down again. Her face was so kind just of the glimpse I got of it. There was no hurt in her eyes like there was yesterday. It was like the first time that I met her at the Brew and how natural and relaxed she was. It makes me smile slightly knowing that after everything, she can still feel relaxed because I sure as hell can't relax around her.

"This is a great party Paige." Spencer's voice fills my head and my eyes snap up to meet hers. She has a smile on her face as she looking at me and then looks at Emily and I can see a twinkle in her eyes. This is too much.

"If you guys don't mind I have to go check on the rest of the guests. Help yourself to whatever though." I quickly get up and try to make my way to the kitchen but not before Alison and I exchange a look. She has this grin on her face that I have seen a few times since I've known her. A grin that only leads to trouble and before I can think of anything that she might be up to I walk away from her.

As I walk away to check on the kids, I feel a pair of eyes burning into my back. At first I thought it was Alison or Hanna looking to see a reaction of out me from all that just happened. But when I turn my head just slightly, I catch Emily's dark brown eyes following me. I look up at Emily and we stare at each other from across the yard, and it's this connection that we have. It's hard to explain but I couldn't take my eyes off of her and neither could she. Usually her dark raven hair was up in a high ponytail but today her hair was cascading over her shoulders framing her perfect heart shaped face. I'm very still as my eyes stay on Emily, but they slowly move to her lips. I bite my lip slightly as her dimples start to appear from her turning the corners of her lips into a small smile.

"So having Spencer wasn't enough for you Paigey? Now you want her girlfriend too?" I react so fast to Alison's voice that I thought that my neck was going to snap. Soon I'm met with the evil grin on her face. I quickly pull her to the side of the house where we were out of sight.

"Keep it down Ali. What are you trying to prove anyways? You've only been here a few hours and your already stirring up trouble." She puts her hand over her chest as though my words have offended her. But she quickly bounces back by polishing her nails on her shirt and blowing on them before stepping closer to me.

"I'm just pointing out the obvious Paige, you like Emily. I mean she's gorgeous, but really you two are basically eye sexing right in front of Spencer. So are you going to tell Spencer that you have the hots for her girl?"

"Stop Alison. When are you going to grow up and stop playing games? We aren't teenagers anymore; you can't just manipulate everyone anymore." I get in her face and I can feel her flinch.

"No one talks to me like that, especially not the poor town widow." She recollects herself and a scowl builds up on her face as she stands tall against me.

"Look Alison, you still are my sister-in-law despite Jason's death, so I put up with you because of him but now I don't have to. I'm done playing this game with you, and if you want to have a good relationship with your niece then you'll grow up; until then you need to leave my house." I turn to walk away in shock that I had just told off Alison frikin' DiLaurentis.

"Paige!" I stop just before being met with people and think of witty remarks to make when she finally retaliated. "I never knew what my brother saw in you back then, but now I know why he married you. You are a badass. I'm doing this for Ev though; don't think I actually like you Paigey." A smile escapes her lips as she walks past me and I can't believe that she didn't say anything. Maybe I am finally growing up myself.

I make my way up to the house quickly remembering that I hadn't wrapped Evee's present and it was getting close to cutting the cake and opening presents. I'm in my bedroom wrapping her present when I suddenly feel like I'm not alone. I turn to see Emily's slender body leaning against the doorway with her arms crossed. I redirect my attention to the present taking a deep breath and closing my eyes as I mentally prepare for this conversation.

"Can we talk?" Her angelic voice fills the empty room, like music to my ears.

* * *

**Emily's POV**

"Spencer, you can't make me go to the party." I say through the bathroom door. When Spencer called telling me she was dragging me to the party I locked myself in my bathroom. I've only left the apartment once since yesterday afternoon, and that was to change the order on the cupcakes. I was up the whole night deciding if I should go to Evelyn's party, and finally at 4 o'clock in the morning when I chose not to go. I know it would upset Evelyn but I would make it up to her in some way.

"Have you met me? Of course I can get you to go to party. I bet I can even get you to do it using one word." My head shoots up in curiosity, what word could she use? "Evee." My shoulders fall as I begin to imagine the sad expression on the little girl. I was her 'bestest friend' and I wasn't going to attend her party. I get up from the floor and sluggishly walk out to the living room where Spencer is sitting back on my couch with her feet kicked up on the footrest. "Check mate my friend." I fall next to her and repeat her motions on the sofa.

"Touché Spence." We both begin to laugh and I grab my stomach as it begins to hurt from the laughter.

"So, Hanna told me you and Paige got into an argument yesterday..That's why you don't want to go to Ev's party?" Spence is using her fingers to make circles on the back of her other hand as she shyly looks up at me. I nod and she straightens up just a bit. "Is Paige the reason why you came to me with questions about your sexuality? Because I can tell there's something between you two." I blush at being figured out by Spencer; I knew I didn't hide my feelings for Paige that well this past week no matter how hard I tried I stolen glances of her whenever she was near.

"That obvious huh?" I shrug my shoulders sinking further into the couch when I feel Spencer turn tucking her legs under her butt. "I know she's straight and everything, but she's really amazing. Ever since I met her I've felt something for her."

"Look I get it Em, but I don't think that Paige is straight. She might have been married to Jason but I think before him she had a thing with a girl. At least that's what Hanna told me. And if the way she looks at you is any indication than I'd say she's not." She rests her hand on her propped elbow and I see a genuine look on Spencer's ivory colored face. I hadn't known about a girl before Jason but then again I never really asked her that kind of information.

"So what do I do then?" I get up and walk over to my room and change into some slim fitting jeans and a simple grey t-shirt.

"Just tell her. I know it's scary to put yourself out there, but if you don't then you'll never know. But I have a feeling you don't like to talk about your feelings since you cancelled your appointment with Sullivan yesterday." She raises her eyebrow and when I look up I see a smirk on her as she checks her phone.

"Why are you so observant Spence?" I get up and slip my arms into my leather jacket holding the door open. "You coming?" I smile as she jumps up and walks out the door and I stand there holding the door open with a curtsy that makes Spencer giggle.

"And they say chivalry is dead." We walk to her car and as we drive to the residential part of town I notice that my hands are shaking are even sweaty. I don't think I've ever been this nervous about anything in my life. I wipe my palms on my jeans but it's no use because the moisture just returns and I feel gross at the amount of sweat that is leaving my body. "Em calm down, it's just Paige you have nothing to worry about." Spencer rests her hand on top my knee and with that touch, I feel a bit calmer but my nerves slowly creep up again as she parks a few houses down. Spencer gets out of the car but I stay put for a few seconds

"Breathe Emily, breathe." I say to myself before taking a deep breath and opening the door to my awaited future. I fell into step behind Spencer and quickly slow my steps and begin pacing back and forth on Paige's porch. Spencer comes up and simply loops her arm through mine and leads me towards the door. I look at her in confusion, but like in the car her touch calms me down just a bit.

The closer I get to the backyard where all the music and noise is coming from, the faster my heart starts to beat. But something happens to me when I finally make it to the deck and over see everyone. I see Evelyn playing with a little girl and that's when I truly relax, realizing that I came for the girl, that little girl who was my 'bestest' friend. Spencer and I attract the attention of a few people at the party, but when we are stepping down all my attention is draw to the auburn haired beauty that quickly looks away. I beeline for her, but am quickly blocked by a blonde that I have never seen before. I look down at Hanna then back at the girl who reminds me of Hanna with her blonde locks and baby blue eyes. She introduces herself to me, and to be kind I do the same but my eyes fixate to the girl directly behind her.

Alison, the blonde keeps her eyes on me while making her way behind Paige and I feel a peg of jealousy when she places her hands on Paige's shoulders. But I quickly remember her saying that Alison was one of her sister-in-laws. I take a seat keeping my eyes on Paige's, but she hasn't looked up once since I arrived. I finally get a glimpse of her beautiful face after Alison makes a comment that makes her look up. Her dark brown eyes look sad for the second they we made eye contact. It broke my heart knowing that she couldn't even look me and that she had to look at the ground.

She excuses herself from the table, and I hear everyone else talking around me but I don't hear a damn thing. I have too many thoughts going through my head that I can't even process words to make decent conversation with any of the girls or Tristen there. My eyes stay focused on Paige when she walks away from the table, and I notice her body sway from side to side with some nice hugging dark jeans. My eyes slowly move up from her legs to her upper body, and notice her form-fitting navy blue long sleeve with a black cardigan hang off her sides. God she looks good in anything. I'm so mesmerized by her movements that I don't even notice when she turns and looking at me. We share a moment where I feel like no one else is around us and it's just Paige and me. I'm about to get up when I see Alison appears next to Paige, and both girls quickly go out of sight.

I have to talk to her before I lose my courage to tell her how I feel, and have to wait until the next pep talk from Spencer. I get up to find the birthday girl and look around but don't have a clue where she is. I'm on the verge of panicking when I feel a little person poke the back of my thigh. I'm met with the little girl I had seen playing with Evelyn when I first walked in. I smile and kneel down next to her wondering what she wanted.

"You play hidensee wid me and Evee." The little girl's words all mix together, I could barely understand her but I finally got it. I nod my head and begin counting and after I reach 10, I look for the two girls. Evelyn's playmate was easy to find, but I had to have help from her to find Evelyn. I almost give up when I hear a giggle come from behind a tree. I walk over and see Evelyn up in a small tree looking down at me with her hands covering her mouth as she giggles. I smile up at her knowing that she played me very well, I never thought to look up a damn tree. She climbs down the tree, but before getting to the bottom she slips and I react quickly catching her before falling on some rocks at the bottom of the tree.

"Evee you have to be more careful. I don't want you to get hurt." I hug her close to me trying to not think about her getting hurt.

"Sorry Emmy." Her arms become tighter around my neck and I feel her kiss my cheek. "Happy you here Emmy."

"Happy I'm here too" I smile at the little girl and she does the same. I give her one last squeeze before I put her down. "We'll play more in a little, but I have to go say hi to your mom okay?" She nods her head eagerly and takes her friend's hand skipping the swing set nearby.

I look over just in time to see Paige walk up the stairs and inside the house as I make my way back to the table that seated my friends. I look up at the top of the deck almost sitting down when Spencer catching my attention. I see her staring at me motioning for me to go up and talk to Paige. I sluggishly make my way up the steps into the house looking for Paige. I make my way through the living room and the kitchen but there was no sign of her so I stop at the bottom of the stairs looking up deciding if I should go upstairs. I think about Spencer's pep talk and shake off the nerves and taking a deep breath before going to Paige's room.

When I see her kneeling near the foot of her bed I feel as if I should leave and forget about telling her everything. Before I can turn around and leave she turns to see me leaning against the doorway.

"Can we talk?" Is all I can muster up right now. I move closer into the room taking a seat next to her.

"So are you here to tell me about you and Spencer?" Again she isn't making eye contact with me and I feel even more hesitant. But now I'm confused too.

"What about me and Spencer?" She couldn't seriously think that I was with Spencer right? I mean Spencer was great friend and everything but nothing more.

"If you guys are trying to hide it, you should do a better job of it." She gets up and is being very distant with me; maybe this was a bad idea. I can tell she is upset so I move to grab her hand, and pull her back towards me

"There's nothing going on with me and Spencer. She's my friend, I know we got off to a rough start but we're friends and she's just been helping me." I keep her close to me and my eyes move down towards her lips but I know I have to wait. She's close enough that I can feel her breath against the skin on my neck.

"So Spencer could help you more than I can? Or Hanna? No, there has to be something between you two because we were here to help you too. So, what I don't understand is why you would go to Spencer for help when she was the one that gave you a hard time when you first moved here! I was nothing but nice to you, and I try to be there for you and you go to Spencer?" She's mad, but I understand why she's mad but again misunderstanding. She's on the verge of tears. I don't know what to do while she keeps yelling at me. I just stand there and let her yell almost the same thing over and over again. How she couldn't believe nothing was going on since I went to Spencer and not her. "Oh my God." Those three words catch my attention and I bring my eyes up to her.

"What?" I'm scared because I don't know what's going on, or what she's talking about.

"I get it now. I know why you went to her over me. I feel really stupid now, I don't know what I was thinking. I should have known to not just throw myself at you if you didn't like me. I mean, that has to be the reason you chose Spencer over me because I made it awkward." She's pacing around her room and her hands are moving everywhere. She keeps talking and her hands are still failing making me chuckle. I try to hold back my laughter but the way that she was going through all the reasons in her head was cute. I guess this is how I was last week after she kissed me and was doing the exact same thing. "This is funny to you?" She stops in her tracks and I stop laughing but a smile remains on my face.

"Yeah it is funny. Want to know why? I went to Spencer because I do like you, and I wanted to figure out what to do. I didn't come to you because I can't talk to you about you. I went to Spencer because I knew she was gay, I couldn't go to Hanna because let's face it, Hanna tells you everything." I walk closer to her and she looks shocked and confused.

"Wait so you have feelings for me? And you talked to Spencer about it?" She looks more scared now, and I don't understand why she does but I move closer to her. We are so close that when we our breathing syncs our chests touch. I smell the aroma of her shampoo and in that instant my hands fall to my side.

"Yeah I did. But I didn't tell her who I was having feelings for." I lick my lips at the closeness of her lips wanting to press mine against hers. I look at her lips but she still has a weary expression.

Finally I can't take it, and my hand reach out for her waist and my finger slips through her pant belt loop tugging her closer to me and bringing my other hand to her lower back so that it rests on the smalls of her back. Our lips finally touch and this kiss is tender; not impromptu like the rest of our kisses. We both relax into the light kiss and just like that we pull away just enough that our noses are still touching. I'm about to pull further away from her when Paige's right hand grazes my left cheek. She grabs the back of my neck and simultaneously we pull each other closer together. My hands move from her waist to her face as I soak in Paige and openly let myself fall into this kiss. Nothing stops us from our lips moving together and craving one another. We even become a little rough with each other, feeling her nails digging into my neck and me biting her lower lip. Finally I have to pull away from Paige to breathe and to make sure that this is real, that this is actually happening.

I smile coming out of the kiss and we rests our foreheads on each other's shoulders, and being able to feel our heavy breathing on each other's neck.

"Wow, that was amazing" Her vibrations coarse through my forehead and I lift my head to look at her but notice she's still catching her breath. I lift my hand to bring her chin up so I can look at her beautiful brown eyes. That was a mistake because as soon as her eyes lock onto mine I fall hard and begin kissing her again.

"Ahem." We pull apart quickly and I see Hanna's smiles as she runs up to bring me and Paige into a giant hug. "Finally. I knew would be any day now." She kisses both of our cheeks as she jumps up and down in joy. "You know I would let you guys do your thing." Hanna eyes us both up and down and Paige and I look at each other before fixing our clothes and hair. Thanks to Hanna's subtle hint we realize just how heated our kiss had become. "But Ev has been asking for her presents and cake for like 20 minutes." She leaves the room leaving me and Paige in silence in her bedroom.

"Well we should go. I know Evee would be happy to know your here. I know I am." She reaches for my hand and I willingly give it to her.

"She actually knows I'm here already, I found her right before this happened." We start to leave her bedroom when she pulls me back.

"What are we?" She looks at me nervously and I look down in shame because I honestly didn't think this far ahead.

"I don't know, but I want to be with you. Why don't we talk about this later when there are fewer people around and we can figure it out?" I squeeze her hand and start to walk down the stairs after she nods in agreement. Before we head to the kitchen out hands come undone as we get the cake and cupcakes with Hanna and Spencer who just smile at mine and Paige's flushed faces. Spencer and Hanna walk out to the backyard with a box of cupcakes each and I start to walk out when Paige tugs at my shirt pulling me back gently.

"Thank you for getting the cupcakes." I look down and see the cupcake that I special ordered for her. I take it out and set it on a plate and place it in the fridge.

"You're welcome. Now come on." I wink at her as I pick up the box of cupcakes. We both walk out happy, as the kids gathered at the top of the deck. The lighted candles on Evelyn's cake signaled the kids to start singing happy birthday and soon the parents were joining as well. I haven't been this happy in a long time and right now at this moment I am happy. I am especially happy looking at Paige's huge smile as she is kneeled next to a very happy Evelyn blowing out her candles.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:** Hello everybody. Sorry for it taking a while to update I know I say that a lot but I'm trying to get better with updating more often. That being said thank you to everyone who has stuck by the story and my long waits. Again sorry! I'll try to work on that.

**redgirl25 **- Gahhh Sara I'm sorry I keep you impatiently waiting! But you have me impatiently waiting for your story update. Evee is adorable though it's okay you can keep saying it. Hope you like the next part, its a bit more serious with Em and her feelings.

**Saii79**-I think you made Evee happy with you baking chocolate cake before reading her chapter. It's like you made it for her! I always loved the Spemily friendship so I had to put it in this one. Spencer is a great friend to Emily and with helping her cope with her feelings, Spencer is hiding her feelings a bit tho, so to say she's perfectly okay with it is...eh. you'll see! Yes Alison is a bitch right? but she's not leaving just yet so just wait for it, I never liked Alison but I felt like she would be perfect for what I'm planning. YOu havent seen the end of Jealous Paige there shall be more! Thank you for your kind words my friend, and there is more kisses where that came from. ;) enjoy more of Evee's Party Ildi.

**KooshGID **-Thank you! I know right? talking is always good. So is making out lol

**Del-** I'm Happy for them too. Yeah it's really good that they talked and straightened about everything with Spencer and Emily and stuff. Em and Paige are just perfect together but remember it's only the Beginning. Alison is so evil that it's so good for this story so you haven't seen that last of her. Thank you for Waiting and hope you enjoy their talk!

**Gprx710- **Thank you! Sorry i kept you waiting!

**StagHen-** If you though that was a rollercoaster just wait until you finish this chapter. it's a rollercoaster for everyone. Spencer is there for Emily like you said a wingwomen, but there are still some healing wounds of Spencer for her Sis in Law, I mean feelings just don't go away no matter how hard you try to ignore them. Emily is a romantic at heart isn't she? I kinda took that apology from The Princess diaries, just replaced pizza with a cupcake. Alison makes everything interesting doesn't she? Yes this chapter picks up where the last one left off.

**waiting-all-night- **Patience grasshopper. Yeah they are finally together but it's not going to be smooth sailing. But you should enjoy this Chapter.

**Guest**- Ask and you shall receive. Update time!

**GingerKid89** - Thank you for loving it! And sorry it took me so long to update but hope you still enjoy!

Thank you for the follows/favorites/Reviews and to everyone reading because you all are extremely awesome! Back to the story though, Enjoy Evee's Birthday Party part 2!

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Chapter 10

**Paige's POV**

I don't think I could be happier in this moment with my family and friends around me; but of course right at this minute I'm happy because of Emily. We finally established where we both were with our feelings. And our make out session before attending the party again has put me in the best mood. I can't believe how that conversation started though; I never thought that it would have ended with us kissing like that.

Now that I know how she feels; my eyes are glued to her. I'm sitting with the girls and Tristen, looking over at Evee sitting on Emily's lap talking to Ashley and Dad. Evelyn and Emily are laughing at something that my dad said. I rest my chin in my hand, and as I stare longingly at Emily from across the yard, I don't even realize that Evee is tapping on my shoulder.

"Mommy presents?" I grab her and put her on my lap wiping the frosting off of her cheek.

"Sure baby, let's go." I pick her up, making the announcement for everyone to make their way and circle around the table where the presents are. I place Evee on a seat, and I start handing her gifts as she jumps up and down waiting to open her gifts. The first few presents she gets are some toys, like dolls, legos, and stuffed animals. After every gift comes a smile from my little girl, as well as her jumping off the seat to hug the person that gave it to her. I read off the next gift that she points to, and of course she picks the biggest gift.

I read the name on the box, and I roll my eyes before mustering up a fake smile as I tell Evee that name of the person. "This is from your Aunty Alison." Of course Ali would buy her the biggest gift in the bunch. Evee jumps out of her seat and starts to rip the wrapping off of the gift, and when she finally sees what it is; she jumps higher up from the floor. She squeals before running up to Ali and jumping up to hug her, and she begins to kiss her on the cheek repeatedly. The interaction is cute, but the fact that it involved Ali ruined the moment. Ali hugs Evee tightly, and they smile at each other as the rest of the guests 'awe' to the expression of gratitude. I tell Hanna to hand Evee the next gift as Evee makes her way back from hugging Ali. I walk down and stand next to a smiling Ali.

"She doesn't know how to ride a bike Ali." I cross my arms as I stand next to her. We are both staring at the little girl that we love open some boxes with clothes. Normally kids her age just want toys, but Evee loves getting clothes; then again she spends way too much time with Hanna. I guess I'm thankful for that though because I'm not there to help pick out her clothes for school, and Hanna's taught her how to dress herself really well.

"Well then she'll learn. Every little kid should have a bike."

"Alison, I don't have time to teach her and you know that. Buying her a bike when no one is going to teach her is like taunting her." I look around to make sure no one is listening to us, but everyone is focused on Evee opening more gifts.

"I'll teach her Paigey, don't worry." Her evil smirk worries me the instant it formed on her lips.

"You don't live in Rosewood though. You'll probably be here for a day or two and then head back to Boston; she can't learn in a day." I keep my eyes fixed on Hanna as she hands her the next gift from Spencer.

"Oh Spence and Melissa didn't tell you? I'm moving back to Rosewood, effective immediately. So I guess I'll have lots of time to spend with Ev." Her smile is evil but at the same time genuine. I know that she misses Evee but the tone of her voice makes me feel like she's toying with me.

"I didn't know that. I should go back to Evee." I walk back up the stairs. and in a daze from the many thoughts running through my head about what kind of trouble Ali will cause from moving back.

Hanna nudges me on my side and everyone is looking at me, even Evee is staring at me with her new Finding Nemo stuffed animal sitting beside her. Who gave her that? Damn I wasn't even paying attention to who gave her what. I look at the table, and there is only one gift left and I grab it handing it to Evee who impatiently tears into the tissue paper on top of the bag. She gasps as she holds out the box and hugs it to her chest. I look at the box and it's a camera, a small navy blue Polaroid camera. Who gave that to her? Did I even read the name? The crowd of people point and even 'oh' at the gift. I bend down to grab the bag, but as my eyes scan the Navy blue bag with shooting stars on it; I remember who gave it to her. I drop the bag, and my eyes scan the crowd to find Emily and Tristen in the back with matching smiles. Evee runs to Emily almost making her fall over. She climbs up Emily and hugs her reaching out for Tristen wrapping her hand around his neck and giving him a kiss on his cheek.

I make eye contact with Emily and she holds my stare until she shrugs with a smile while hugging Evee. She would be thoughtful enough to get Evee a camera, I mean she had enough photography books from Aria; but never once did I think of getting her a camera. I mean, she's four. I dip my head towards Emily as I smile from looking at both girls hugging. Out of the corner of my eye I see a fuming Alison. Her cheeks are really red, and her eyes are shooting daggers at Emily. Before anything could escalate, I thank everyone for the presents and for coming. Hanna and I pick up the presents and wrapping paper that's scattered throughout the porch.

"Need help?" A sweet angelic voice rings in my ears, and I snap up right dropping the gift boxes that I had collected. Emily laughs before bending down and picking up the boxes and handing them to me.

"No, Hanna and I got it." I know that my cheeks are red because I can feel the heat rushing to my cheeks.

"Really? She's so helpful from across the yard. Very talented that one."

I look over and Hanna has left to be at Tristen's side. She has a smirk on her face as she picks up a big box that has half of Evee's gifts and bringing it inside.

As we get inside, I close the sliding door and make my way over to Emily. But as I reach for her, she turns around and grabs my hand pressing our bodies together. She turns me so now my lower back is pressing up against the countertop, and her body is leaning into mine. I look at her eyes and I see desire, making my heart flutter, god she was so hot. But again Emily is one step ahead of me, and before I can initiate the kiss her lips are pressed onto mine in a hungry kiss. Unlike before, this kiss is anything but chaste; her lips are pressed hard against mine. Her hands rest on my hips and my arms are wrapped around her neck resting on her shoulders. I could really get used to this. Her tongue glides along my bottom lip, making my head fall back in pleasure. This was the wrong thing to do, because Emily starts to kiss my neck running her tongue over the nape of my neck before she starts kissing certain spots. I bring my hands to her neck while my head is still thrown back.

"Em…" I let out and slowly pull away, but not before pressing a few more light kisses on my neck. I bring my head back to look at her and I'm meant with a giant grin. "Did you really have to do that?" I laugh and push her away gently; she throws her hands up as she walks backwards.

"Is it my fault that you are gorgeous and that I find you irresistible?" She is so adorable with her dimples embedded in her olive skin.

"I think you're talking about yourself Em." I grab a hold of her shirt, and pull her to me making our lips crash together; but this time it's softer letting me savor the taste of red velvet on her lips from the cupcakes. "Em we should get back to the party before people start looking for us." I say breathlessly as I hesitantly pull away. Somewhere in the process of us kissing, our hands interlocked and as I try to walk away, Emily pulls me back to her.

"Do we have to?" She rests her forehead on my shoulder, and I shudder as her soft lips graze right above my collarbone. My breath is hitched leaving me speechless, so I just nod and Emily lets out a huge sigh which just makes my heart melt knowing that she would rather kiss me for the rest of the night. "Fiiine. Let's go."

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"Thank you again for coming. And I'll bring Evee by sometime next week okay Mrs. DiLaurentis?" She smiles at me, and tells me to call her to see what day will be best for her. She is last of the guests to leave and it's around 9 p.m. I've been up for almost 14 hours, and I've been on my feet for the whole day. The girls and Tristen helped clean a bit before heading out to watch a movie leaving Emily, Evee and I alone. I walk back into the living room and plop myself onto the oversized sectional. I lie down and let out a big sigh and prop my feet up on the arm rest. My arm drapes over my face and finally I can breathe easily.

"Tired?" I peak through my arm and see a smiling Emily holding a sleeping Evee. Emily sits down and I sit up leaving a space in between us. Emily lays Evee down resting Evee's head down on her lap, and I bring her legs up to my lap taking off her shoes dropping them to the floor. I smooth out the bottom of her light blue dress and just run my hand down the material.

"No, I could go for another 12 hours." I look at Emily, and see that one of her eyebrows is raised with one corner of her lip tilted slightly upward to reveal a small smirk. I immediately feel my cheeks flush and look down in embarrassment when I hear Emily laughing quietly. "I didn't mean like that." I try to keep my eyes away from her stare, and catch a glimpse a snoring little girl clinging onto the hem of Emily's skirt.

"I know Paige. It's cute to see you embarrassed though. So what do you want to talk about first?" Her low voice was almost inaudible, and my stomach for some reason drops. Does Emily really want this?

"Yeah, how much was that camera? Because I know they stopped making those kinds of Polaroid cameras and the film for it, so I know that must have cost a pretty penny." I lean my head back and turn it slightly so that I am looking the beautiful woman before me.

"Don't worry about it, Paige. It's not that big of a deal, it was worth it to see her reaction today." She looks down at Evee with a smile, moving the hair out of her face as Evee curls up closer to Emily's lap. The little girl was so adorable, even in her sleep she couldn't get enough of Emily and I was starting to feel that way too.

"It was very considerate Em. But really, that's too much for her."

"Paige." She reaches out resting her hand on top of my thigh, my breathing stops as I feel where her hand landed. She hand rested halfway up my thigh and all of a sudden it feels like the temperature has risen. The fact that the heat from her hand wasn't helping at all, in fact it made me stiffen with every passing second that it was left there. "Do you know why I didn't hesitate to buy that camera for Evelyn?" I loved how she called her Evelyn whenever she wasn't talking to Evee. I love Evelyn's name, but ever since she was born everyone has had a nickname for her. Unfortunately she kind of just got used to them, and never really took to her full name. I shake my head as my eyes move up to meet hers; I try to steady my breathing because I don't want her to know how much her touch is affecting me right now. "Because I think that it's totally her. I've seen the way she looks at things, with a sense of wonder and clarity. It's hard to explain but she looks at things differently, she looks at things for the moment if that makes sense." I just listen to her and nod when it's appropriate because I do understand what she is saying, I think.

Evee sees things in the now, she doesn't look past what's in front of her because it's never guaranteed that there's something beyond that. I know it's a very grim way to experience things at the age of 4 but it's true.

"So I thought a camera was perfect. She has a lot of photography books anyways, so I thought a camera would be good. I mean, I knew I couldn't get her a regular film camera because you're always busy so you wouldn't have time to develop the pictures. And a digital camera is just too complicated, so complicated that sometimes even I get frustrated. So I thought the Polaroid was perfect, because it was small and easy and the pictures come out right away. So she really captures the moment in that moment." I smile as I hear Emily talk about photography like its second nature to her. I look down at Evee trying to be the person that Emily is picturing her to be with a camera, and oddly enough I can see it.

"I'm just afraid she might not be careful with it, and that your money will be wasted." I'm really not trying to rain on Emily's parade, but I really don't want that camera to go to waste. Evee is responsible for being her age, but she is still a small child and accidents happen.

"It won't go to waste Paige. She keeps close the things that are important to her." We both look down and Evee slightly shifts so now she curled up to Emily's side almost like a dog or cat does. I notice the small blue camera is nestled in her arms with one hand still clinging to Emily's shirt.

"Okay. She can keep it, but you can't buy her anything like that anymore." I think my voice sounded a lot harsher then I meant it to be, because she kind of withdrawn from me. Her hand moves away from my thigh and I instantly feel my temperature drop just a bit at missing the heat of her hand. "Em I'm sorry, I didn't mean to raise my voice. Thank you for her gift though; she seems to love it already." I give her smile resting my hand on top of hers that's on Evee's back. I lean in to her trying not to wake up Evee, so I could finally kiss her after hours of not being able to touch her. I see she looks down at Evee before she hesitantly leans in to me tilting her face slightly. My lips finally touch hers but all too quickly do her lips pull away.

"Haley?" I abruptly get up and head from the living room to the entryway finding my mother leaning against one of the railings. I see that Emily is standing up and her face has hardened from just a few seconds ago. "What are you doing here? And how the hell did you get in?" Haley is trying to get her footing together, and I glance back at Emily who is confused at this interaction.

"I'm here for the party, sweetheart. Where's my Evee?" I smell alcohol on her breath as I take a step back, but she comes closer holding up the key that I had lent her over a year ago.

"The party ended hours ago Haley. You need to go and I need that key, I can't have you coming in like this with Evelyn in the house." Her face went from a smile to a scowl in a second flat, pushing past me towards Emily. As if Emily knew what was coming, she scoops up Evee in her arms making sure to not wake up the little girl. "You give me my granddaughter!" Emily holds Evee's body closer to her, protecting her from the noise that was coming from Haley.

"No. You do not get to wake up that poor little girl because you forgot her birthday. I mean, wasn't that the reason you came back into town and you forgot? Because you were what? Drinking away your problems? No, this is not happening here. You need to leave because if you don't, I will call the police."

"You wouldn't call the police on your own mother, sweetheart." She retreats from Emily and Evee coming towards me with wicked smile. This isn't the first time I've seen her like this, and I know it won't be the last.

"I'm not calling the police on my own mother, because Ashley's not here. I'm calling the cops because some drunk came into my house, and is going after my daughter." I grab Haley's arm but she whips it back and slaps me across the face. The string of my face makes its way to my eyes as I try and be strong and holding back tears.

"Don't you dare talk to me like that Paige. I am still your mother." She steps closer to me and jabs her finger into my chest making my heart ache even more, I guess she hasn't changed. "You, give me my granddaughter." She looks at Emily and I pray to God that Emily just keeps Evee close to her but I see Emily come closer. I feel Emily nudge me so I look up at her with tearful eyes wishing that she wasn't here, that she didn't see this. When I lock eyes with her, they have become softer and full of worry. One of Emily's hands catches my arm turning me towards her.

"Here, take her and call the police." She whispers to me and hands me Evee. I look at her as I take the little girl being hesitant to walk away and leave Haley with Emily. But Emily gives me a reassuring nod, and smile before turning to face Haley. "Paige said that she wanted you to leave ma'am." Emily is standing her ground and she seems very calm, considering everything. The police said that they were on their way.

"Don't you work for me?" She steps closer to Emily, but Emily doesn't flinch. Instead, she clenches her jaw.

"Yes ma'am, I do. But I am also a friend of Evelyn's, and making sure she's safe, as well as Paige is my job." My heart flutters as her words hit me; she's here to protect us. I feel shuddering against my chest when I hear my mom's loud wicked laugh. I soothe Evelyn when I feel her stir in my arms.

"This is my family, they don't need protecting from me. Who are you to talk to me like that?"

"Ma'am you need to calm down, Evelyn is asleep. Look if you calm down when the police get here, we could just say that it was a misunderstanding." Emily is staying calm, and I can tell my mom was getting frustrated as she begins yelling at Emily and pointing at me. It was getting harder to keep Evelyn asleep and eventually she starts crying. As I try to comfort Evee, I see Haley go to hit Emily, but Emily in one swift move grabs Haley's arm and pushes her against the wall twisting her arm and pinning it to Haley's back. Haley is yelling obscenities at Emily now, but Emily just puts more weight on Haley's back and I know I should feel some sympathy for Haley but I don't.

The police come in and separate Emily and Haley putting both women's hands behind their back. Emily just stands there with her head held up high, while Haley is resisting and yelling that Emily assaulted her. It's like everything is happening in slow motion, and I know that I have to say something but everything is just too much. When Emily catches my eyes, I see the pleading look on her face and ever though she looks calm, her eyes tell me that she is terrified.

"What the hell? Emily? Haley?" I hear Hanna's voice, and behind her I see Tristen running to Emily. "Paige, what's going on?" She runs over to me and before I could explain anything I hand her Evee, and run towards Emily but not before hearing Evee yell for Emily and her crying.

"Mrs. DiLaurentis, you called about a Domestic disturbance. I take it these two were the cause of it?" The tall officer steps in between Emily and me, with her eyes still begging for my help.

"It's Ms. McCullers. And no, actually this woman hit me. And Emily was only protecting me and held her against the wall until you got here." He looks over at the other officer that has Emily handcuffed, and nods to him signaling for him to let her go. And with that I run to Emily wrapping my arms around her neck, as her arms wrap around my waist. Her lips find the nape of my neck, pressing a soft kiss as her arms press me closer to her body.

"Are you okay?" She whispers against my skin sending chills down my spine as I nod against her chest.

"Oh, my apologies Ms. McCullers. What is your relationship to the woman who attacked you?" The tall young officer comes up to us making us break apart, but she remains at my side.

"She's my mother. She used a key I had given her a year ago to try and see my daughter, but she was drunk so I refused to let her. She got mad, hit me, and started yelling; that's when Emily stepped in." I squeeze her hand as I continue to be questioned by the officer. Finally the question I had been waiting for came.

"Do you want to press charges?" I looked at Emily who looks unsure of everything, and that she is still trying to process everything. I whisper to Emily to go with Evee, because I can still hear her crying. I ask the officer to give me a minute and pull Hanna to the side.

"She is crazy Paige. She needs help, are you seriously considering not pressing charges? She hit you, and who knows what else she would have done if Emily wasn't here." Hanna was right; who knows what would have happened if Emily wasn't here. I never thought my mom would hit me again, but she did and she could have hurt Evee too. I look over at the frightened little girl that is clinging onto Emily, while Tristen is trying to sooth both the girls. I nod at Hanna, and turn to the police officer saying that I do want to press charges.

"Okay Miss. But in order for us to press charges we need your official statement and the statement of the other woman." He points to Emily and I nod in agreement letting out a heavy sign. "But we can hold her for 24 hours, so you can come to the station in the morning if you two don't feel up to it right now. Also we need the little girl's statement unfortunately; she might have heard or seen something as well."

"Tomorrow would be better, I think we are just tired right now, it's been a long day."

"I understand Miss. Come by the station tomorrow and ask for me; I'll come right down." He hands me his card, and I take it giving him an appreciative smile before walking the officers out and seeing Haley get put in the back of a police car. Hanna follows me to the porch, and I notice neighbors are looking out their windows and standing outside their house looking at the scene going on. I lean my head on Hanna's shoulder and her hand wraps around my shoulder to comfort me.

Out of all the damn days, Haley chose today to mess things up, to mess up the end of Evee's birthday. She had a great day, but I think that all she will remember is her grandma yelling and trying to hurt us.

Tristen, Emily, and Evee are on the sectional with Evee sniffling in-between them. Tristen and Emily are whispering about something, but stop when we walk up to them. Evee fell back asleep but this time on Tristen's chest. We take our seats beside Tristen and Emily with both of us cuddling up against our other halves.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Emily looks at me with a worried expression as she caresses my face and examines my cheek. She presses her fingers lightly on my cheek, and it's still tender and I flinch.

"Yeah I'm fine. Thank you Em, I'm glad you were here. Thank you for protecting her." I lean in to kiss her cheek, but she turns so that I kiss her lips and it's exactly what I needed right now. She wasn't as rough as she had been all day when we had our intimate moments, but it was tender and passionate.

"I'm trying to protect you too. I should have stepped in before; then maybe you wouldn't have got hit." I reassure her that it's not her fault, and that I'm glad she stepped in but that there shouldn't have been anything to step into in the first place. "So that's your mom huh?" She leans back into the couch, and I lay my head on her lap like Evee did before and look up at the brown haired beauty. "I thought Ashley was your mom until I remembered that you and Hanna are step-siblings. But I didn't expect your mom to be like that."

"Yeah that's Haley for you. She's always been distant from me, so that's why I consider Ashley my mom because she was there through my ups and downs, just like Hanna." I point to Hanna and see the blonde smile weakly at me as she plays with Evee's hair.

"Em thanks for being here; I'm so glad you were, because I never trusted Haley with Evee because of her drinking problem." Emily gets silent and I shoot Hanna a look making her close her mouth.

"I'm glad I was here too. But we should leave you three to get some rest and just take everything in. I'll come first thing in the morning though." Her hand tucks a piece of my hair behind my ear and rests her palm on my cheek. Her palm is really soft and I lean into her touch closing my eyes

"Can you stay please?" Without thinking the words come out and I quickly sit up and I see everyone's eyes on me. I look at Hanna and we exchange looks before she opens her mouth.

"Yeah. Can you two please stay? I'd feel better with you two here I think we all are a bit shaken up about it still." Tristen and Emily look at each other, and as if their nod to each other was a silent agreement before they turn to us saying yes. Hanna and I smile to each other and jump a little in our seats.

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**Emily's POV**

"So M&M are you and Paige together or..?" He looks between me and Paige as the girls come into the living room with tea and cupcakes. It's around midnight now, and we've been up just sitting with each other on the couch taking turns holding a sleeping Evelyn. Paige cuddles up to me and it feels nice having Evelyn sleeping against my chest and Paige under my arm with her arms wrapped around my waist. It feel likes an actual family, but they aren't mine, they are someone else's right now.

"Um…" I looked down at Paige, and I realize we never really discussed what we were and what this is.

"M&M?" Paige and Hanna begin to laugh and I feel heat rush up to my cheeks.

"God damnit I told you to stop calling me that Tris!" I feel so embarrassed right now, now that all three of them are laughing at me and I can't even hide because Evelyn is sound asleep against me. Tristen just shrugs me off and leans back with a smirk.

"Why do you call her that?" Hanna asks while grabbing a cupcake for her and Tristen.

"Because when I first met her, we were on base and when she introduced herself she said 'Em', and I said like M&M's? After that whenever we got to a place that had American candy, I would get her M&M's. I wish that there was a deeper meaning to that but I was just being dumb." I look at Tristen with amazement as he lies to the girls. I mean yeah that was a part of the reason he still called me that, but the bigger reason he completely left out. I guess I'm thankful for his lie because I don't know if I'm ready to tell Paige about Maddie, or about what happened. Both girls let out an 'awe' after his story and I feel Paige kiss me on the cheek.

"We should all probably go to bed." Paige gets up and takes Evelyn from me, giving me room to stretch out my sore body. Tristen does the same and Hanna just wraps her arms around his waist. I smile at them, because I think they're cute together and I'm glad that they could be happy together. It's only been a day and it seems like they have been together for years.

"Okay, Tristen and I will share the guest bed." I start to climb up the stairs with Tristen walking closely behind me when I hear Paige and Hanna.

"Wait!" They say in unison before looking at each other as if it was an accident, and I think I actually see them both blush. They both avert their eyes to the floor. "Um Em you can sleep in my bed, I'm going to keep Evee in my bed and I just feel safer with you there too."

"Yeah Tris, can you sleep in my room too? I really don't want to be alone." We look at both girls and really who could say no to them. I know for both of us nothing would happen sleeping in the same bed with the girls, but it still makes me nervous. He answers for both of us and the girls make their way up the stairs walking past me and Tristen and into their respected rooms.

I walk to the bed and pull back the covers and flatten out the pillows so she can lay Evee down. I walk away so that Paige could change Evee into some pajamas, as she does that I look around the room to the maroon colored room. It was a really pretty color and it blended well with the deep purple curtains and the reddish pink bed comforter. Her room was very comfortable to be in with dark wooden drawers and a nice off white carpet, it was overall decorated really nice and fits perfectly together.

I turn to look at her room as a whole one more time, but before I can make the 180 degree turn, I feel Paige's arm snake up my chest and her lips connecting with mine. I grab her waist bringing her close to me and I try to pull away so that we can actually talk but her hand cups the back of my neck crashing our lips together. Instead of resisting her I give in, and catch her bottom lip in-between mine and suck lightly.

"Paige..." I say breathlessly as I pull her away, but she doesn't stop kissing me just because our lips aren't connected, but she starts to kiss my neck, sucking lightly on my pulse point. "Paige… not that I don't want to do this, but we should talk." I feel my knees weaken as she continues to suck on my pulse point and I fall back on the floor with me breaking Paige's fall. She knocks the wind out of me and when I see her face I can't help but laugh at the situation that we are in. Her worried face turns as she props herself off my chest and starts to laugh before rolling off of me.

"Sorry I got carried away." She kisses me on the cheek and sits up against the bed pulling me up to sit next to her too.

"It's okay." We sit in silence and I want to go back to kissing her like we were, but I remember what Spencer said about just talking about my feelings to her.

"I'm not ready to be out. I mean, I like you and I like all of this but I don't know what my family would think about it, especially with Jason's family around town." I felt my heart sink just a bit even though I knew I didn't want this to be public just yet, it still stung to hear her say it. The thing with me and Maddie had been us sneaking around for one year before someone found out. I always felt like I was a secret, and even though I didn't want my squad to know about me liking women; I still felt ashamed about how I hid the relationship, and I don't want to feel that shame again. I still didn't know how my own mother would take this; I avoided ever talking to her about anything involving relationships. I guess she didn't have to know just yet.

"I'm not ready either. I mean Hanna, Tris, and Spence know and that's fine, even Aria can know but I'm not ready for everyone to know. I mean I'm still new to this town and everything. Wait, what do you mean you don't know how your family would feel? Spencer's gay, aren't they okay with Spencer?" I know I should probably take a breath or something or think a bit before I talk and let everything soak in.

"My parents and Spencer's parents are okay with it, but Jason's parents never accepted Spencer after she came out." Paige looks down at her hands as she messes with her fingers. "She had it rough in the beginning, but Jason stuck by her, letting her move in with us." I listen as she tells me more about Spencer, and I feel a bit bad. Spencer never told me any of that, she said that it had been rough but that her parents had accepted it but then again I never really thought about Jason's parents. She made coming out seem less scary but the reaction of Jason's mom and stepdad was exactly the reason I hesitated with this.

"Spencer said that you had been with a girl before Jason though?" I look up in confusion and I see the color of Paige's face drain, and I immediately think that I misunderstood Spencer. But I replay the conversation in my head and that's definitely what she said.

"She told you there was a girl before Jason?" She looks nervous, and is avoiding eye contact with me and I sense that there is something she doesn't want me to know.

"She said that Hanna let it slip that you had something going on with a girl in high school. Was she wrong?"

"No… There was a girl, but it ended before it started because I started dating Jason before anything got serious." I feel indifferent about the information. On one hand I feel a bit jealous knowing that I wasn't the first girl, but also on the other I feel grateful that I'm not. I mean if I was the first, then would that mean I was an experiment? I would sure feel like one. "Actually I thought only Hanna and Ali knew about it. I never really told anyone about it just because of the fear."

"I get it. It's scary being different." I say almost without thinking, and Paige's eyes snap up to meet mine but I quickly drop my stare to the off white carpet. Before today, I thought that Paige was just a normal person that had a semi normal life. But after today she's everything but, with everything that happened with her mom, the whole extended family situation, and the fact that she likes me.

"It is scary, but that's what makes people special. I mean everyone is different in their own way. So what about you, did you have a girl before this? I know you said you never had a boyfriend, but you never said anything about a girlfriend." She wraps her hands around my arm pulling herself closer to me so that she can lean her head on my shoulder. I grab her hand and intertwine our fingers resting my head on hers. This was nice, just sitting here with Paige and not worrying about anything like what people thought. I feel my face get hot as I think of a way to tell her about Maddie. I take a deep breath and just decide to let it go.

"Remember how I told you that there was a girl on my squad that was gay? Well her name was Maddie and we had a thing going on for about a year. It ended when our first tour ended and when we came back for our second tour we were just friends until she passed away…"

* * *

Paige is now resting underneath my arm on the bed; she fell asleep after asking a few questions about Maddie. But I stayed wide awake; I couldn't stop thinking as I grabbed a hold of the dog tag that has Maddie's name on it. I run my fingers over the engraved metal, remembering how many times I cried clutching on to her dogtag.

SANCHEZ

MADELINE E.

576-83-4837

AB POSITIVE

NO PREFERNECE

Even now as I'm running my fingers over the metal, I feel tears coming up, I try and fight them back though, because really this was not the time to cry over an ex-whatever Maddie was.

But as I think about what happened to her, I get thrown back into the battlefield state of mind. I see that dark night fill my vision and how my squad and I are securing a small warehouse. We were about to clear the building, when a teen walked in. Quickly my squad's guns were drawn, and before anyone could fire I had yelled for them to hold their fire. The teen was scared and unarmed; one slip of the trigger from my squad could have ended an innocent child's life. Maddie had been the translator of my squad, and quickly walked closer to the teen to better understand him.

It happened in a flash, literally. One moment I saw Maddie there, and the next I saw a flash of light followed by being thrown back by the blast. I heard gun shots as I came back into consciousness, but I wasn't alone. Tristen was lying unconscious next to me with his helmet being completely off, and he wasn't moving. The next thing I remember is being in the hospital waiting for Tristen to wake up, and to hear news about Maddie. Apparently the teen in the warehouse was a suicide bomber, hiding his bomb under his clothing. I finally found out that three of my squad members died, including more members of the squad that we were working with. One of the members was Maddie; I had a feeling though after days of not having any update on her. It was my fault that Maddie had died because I seized fire.

I take my hand back from Paige and begin crying into my hands, I feel so vulnerable right now. I don't think I ever fully coped with Maddie's death, not even with Tristen. I had to be strong, strong for my squad, for Tristen and for myself. I couldn't cope with Maddie's death at the time. Sure, I had cried over her death but I never saw how much it actually affected me. I feel myself lose touch with the sensations going on around me while my breathing starts to become heavier. No, this can't happen right now, not with Paige and Evelyn in the room. Who knows what I would do to them, I was capable of hurting Tristen last time so who's to say that they wouldn't be a victim of my violent blackouts. The flashbacks become overpowering as they continue to repeat. First Tristen, Maddie and I talking and laughing, next clearing out the warehouse, followed by the boy approaching us then the sudden light and Tristen's unconscious body lying next to me. Fuck. Stop. It needs to stop!

I free myself from Paige's grip and clumsily make my way out of Paige's room and stumble onto the floor. I can't believe I didn't break down when I talked about Maddie to Paige. I held it together so well for Paige, I didn't want her to see me vulnerable, not after I stood up to her mom earlier. Truth is, I was terrified to say or do anything about the situation, but as soon as she touched Paige I lost it. Standing face to face with that woman, scared me, because I didn't know what I was capable of at that moment. But I knew I had to protect Paige and Evelyn, and even if it was from Paige's mother, I had to protect those girls at all cost.

I feel my connection to reality slip further away from me as flashbacks from the explosion, and tonight's altercation mesh together. I grab a hold of my head and wish for the thought's to leave me alone, to let me not dwell on the past. Fuck this is it. The end of a relationship before it even starts. My darkness started to overcome my vision when I hear Hanna's door open and she bumps right into me.

"Emily!" She jumps back making me crawl away from her into the corner of the hallway. No I can't hurt Hanna, not Hanna. But I feel a wave of relief flood through my body as she sits next to me and instinctively wraps her hands around me. "It's okay, Emily. You can freak out, I'm here for you." She squeezes me tight and I feel my eyes sting as I try with everything I have to stop them from coming through but fail. I bury my face into Hanna's chest as I just cry; I even grip tightly onto her shirt until I can feel my knuckles and fingers hurt from the pain. But the pain was good, it mean that I was still intact with the real world that I wasn't slipping in the darkness that came from closing my eyes.

"Emmy? Aunty Hanna?" A little voice comes making us look up quickly to see Evelyn standing in the middle of the hallway. I quickly wipe my tears away, and in the process I see with the faint moonlight coming in that Hanna's cheeks were glistening. We give each other a look and I feel bad for doing this to her, for breaking down in front of her and having her deal with me. Evelyn closes the distance as I feel myself try and push away from her, not wanting to hurt the little girl. But Hanna grabs my hand so that I can't move from under her grip, even while looking at her with pleading eyes. Evelyn comes closer to me and with the same moonlight that came through the window above, sheds light on the girls face. She had been crying, her cheeks were glistening from tears while she was holding onto a Finding Nemo stuffed animal that Spencer had given her. I immediately lean forward to reposition myself so that I am now kneeling in front of her.

"Evee what's wrong? Are you okay?" I wrap my arms around the little girl and bring her into me. Usually her arms wrapped around my neck but this time her hands tried to wrap around my waist but fell short just a few inches.

"I scared. Nana Haley gonna hurt us." The little girl's voice was shaking against my chest, and it made my heart sink into my stomach. I look over at Hanna and her eyes said it all. They were filled with a mixture of anger and sadness that fuelled my anger a bit more. Evelyn's small hands let go of her Finding Nemo and clutched tighter onto my sides making me draw her in closer to me. I lean back still holding on to Evelyn until my back hits the wall and she cries into my chest.

"No Evee. She's not going to hurt you, or your mom or Aunty Hanna okay? I won't let her, okay? Tristi and I are here to protect you girls." I rub my hand along her still shaking back and pull her up so that she is looking up at me. Her usually ember eyes are now a dark brown matching Paige's eyes, she looks so scared with her quivering bottom lip.

"You promise?" She lets out as I wipe her tears away, and move her tear soaked hair out of her face.

"I promise Evee." I raise my hand and lay it flat on my chest over my heart. "I promise my bestest friend." I already knew that Evee was strong for being her age, but I had no idea that she had to go through things like this to make her strong. I hold the little girl closer to me so I could rest my head on hers as one of my hands settles on her hair. Yeah I would do whatever it took to protect these girls from everything, even if it includes protecting them from me too.

* * *

**A/N:**For those who do not know about the format of the army dog tag its:

name name and middle initial 3. Social Security Number 4. Blood Type 5. Religious preference

Just in case you were wondering when you saw Maddie's dog tag and didn't know what some of things meant.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:** Okay_ so Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. My girlfriend came to visit me from Chicago so I really was thinking about Writing while she was here but I have lots of new updates! __**First**__ Want to say that this Story will be updated weekly from now on. Either Sunday or Wednesday. Most likely Sundays. __**Second**__ I started a new story called The Perfect Fall. So if you like my writing and have already read The Girl with the Smile. You should check out The new one And tell what you think, So i can continue it or not. _

_Thank you to everyone who takes the time to review. Sorry i usually respond to the reviews but I kind of wanted to get this update out to you guys. Maybe I'll start PMing people as the reviews come? Maybe? I don't know. Thank you to everyone who is reading/Folllowing/Favoriting the story it means alot to me and encourages me to continue write.I appreciate reviews so please leave them. Thank You!_

_ So Here is the next update._

* * *

**Chapter 11**

**Paige's POV**

_ I open the door quietly to the hallway when I hear the yelling going on, but it's not long until I hear the front door slamming echo throughout the house. Mom and Dad always fight, and lately it's been more frequent. I'm young but I'm not dumb, they're not happy. I slowly walk down the hallway to the edge of the living room and hide behind the couch as I hear my mom throwing dishes on the kitchen floor. With every dish that crashes to floor I flinch, and feel my eyes burning up. I hear glass shatter and an ear piercing screech come from my mother's throat that scares me, letting out an involuntary gasp. I quickly cover my mouth and sinking more into the back of the couch breathing in through my nose and trying to fight back tears, in hopes that my mom doesn't hear me._

_ Suddenly I'm pulled by my ankle and as I try to crawl away from my mother I let out my tears and I beg for her to let me go. I feel a warm sticky substance on my leg and when my mom releases her grip on my leg, I see the crimson red blood staining my pure white socks with her impure hand print. I call out for my dad but I'm only met with the solid black eyes of my mother and her alcohol tainted breath. I see nothing in her eyes as I plead for her to let me go, that I won't tell dad that she attacked me but nothing works. Her hand rises to strike me and I close my eyes anticipating the hit but I hear my father's voice making my eyes snap open._

_ I crawl out from under my mother as she is distracted by my father's presence. I get up and take my place behind the couch where I was watching my mother breaking all the dishes. My dad grabs my mother by her shoulders and my mom tries to fight my dad, but my dad has a firm grip on her arms._

_ "Don't you dare touch Paige again! I'm done with this marriage; I'm taking Paige and getting a divorce. You'll be lucky if you have supervised visits with her!" My dad throws her against the dining room chair and comes to pick me up. He sees the blood on me and I see his face get red with anger as the veins in his forehead pop out. He makes his way over to my mom and she tries to slap him across the face, but he catches her hand midair. "You will never have a relationship with Paige Haley, not if I can help it. If she wants a relationship with you when she's older that's her choice. But as far as I'm concerned, you no longer exist in mine or Paige's life. Understood?"_

_ "She's my daughter too, I have rights!" My mom gets in his face and I can tell by his hands getting balled up into his that he's trying to hold back from doing anything he'd regret. _

_ "When Veronica Hastings is done with you, you won't have parental rights to Paige. Look at her leg, there's blood Haley and I can see a bruise starting to form. Your drinking has gotten way out of control, to the point that you don't even realize the people that you are hurting. That's our daughter Haley, and you were going to hit her when I walked in. To me, that doesn't seem like a mother who deserves to have rights to her child." _

_ He turns to me, and by this point I am crying into the pillow that I carried out with me. The pillow that I've had since I was a baby, the same pillow that she made me when she was pregnant with me. I look at the pillow now and it's smeared with blood. My dad picks me up and heads for the door. As we are walking away, I look up to see my mom look at me weakly making me drop my pillow. I look down at the pillow, and when I look up I see myself sitting at the table where my mom was and Evelyn is being carried out of the house._

* * *

"No!" I jerk up from my bed in a cold sweat. My eyes slam shut when I realize that it was just a dream, so I allow myself to fall back into bed. As I lay down, I turn to my side so that I can hold Evee but she's not there. I move my arm around to try and feel for her and again my eyes snap open throwing the covers off in search for Evee. "It was just a dream, it was just a dream" I keep saying to myself as I tear up my room looking for her, that's when I remember that Emily spent the night. Of course she was with Emily somewhere. I open my door and go downstairs looking throughout the kitchen and living room for the girls.

I come back up stairs and crack open Hanna's door, and I see Tristen sleeping up against the headboard with the blonde sleeping against his chest and snoring slightly. I smile at them when I see that Tristen's clothes are all on as they were last night and look around the room to see if the girls were there. I finally decide to check the guest bedroom and lone behold there they were sleeping on the window seat.

Emily is sitting up against the wall with her head dangling to the side, while Evee is secured in-between her arms over her chest. I walk up to see that Evee's hands are wrapped around Emily's torso with her face pressed up against the fabric on Emily's chest. I smile when I also see that tucked into Emily's side is Nemo. I smile before moving closer to pick Evee up from Emily's arms. I cover them and go to move Emily's hands off of Evee but when I do, I'm startled when her body jerks up. Her eyes are bloodshot when I'm face to face with her. It's like she's someone different than the kind Emily I've gotten to know. She looks down and sees Evee, and her once hard face, softens. Her arms reach out to me with the sleeping Evelyn and I take my little girl from her. As soon as she is safely in my arms, Emily leaves the room with tears welling up in her eyes.

I walk to Evee's room and set the little girl on her bed pulling the covers over her and putting her Nemo right next to her. I leave the door open just a bit before heading down stairs to find Emily. I walk into the kitchen and I see her leaning over the sink with her hands clenching on to the side of counter with her eyes closed. I approach her slowly making sure I don't startle her but when one of my steps makes a creak on the hardwood floor I know that my plan backfired. Her eyes are pure black right now, and they are honestly scaring me with how dark she looks. It's as if she is somewhere else, somewhere dark.

"Emily are you okay?" I walk towards her so that the gap between us is closed, but she keeps moving away as the brown of her iris start to reappear. As I get closer to her I see the quiver of her chin and the watering of her eyes. "Em…" I reach for her, but she pulls away from me stumbling backwards and landing on the floor. I run to her and kneel down next to her, but she throws her hands up to stop me.

"Stop I don't want to hurt you Paige!" She yells at me, and I'm taken aback but I fight my urge to leave and move in to wrap my arms around her.

"No you won't Em. Whatever it is, it's okay, I'm here for you." I rest her head on my collarbone, and I feel her breathing hard against me.

"You don't get it Paige. I could have hurt Evelyn right now just because you scared me! You don't know what I can do Paige. I basically beat up Tristen because he was at the wrong place at the wrong time with me, and he's my best friend." She pushes me away with just enough force so that I'm out of her way so she can get up. I quickly get up and follow her as she's heading for the door.

"No you can't just do that Emily! You can't keep running away!" I yell at her as her hand reaches for the door knob, and she stops. I feel the back of my head burning from the sensation that someone is watching us. And it takes me back to my dream and I can't help but think that we woke Evee up with our yelling, and that she might be watching this. "Em, if we are going to do this then you can't just run away when you're scared. I'm here for you, to talk or if you just need to cry. You have Hanna, Tristen, Evee, Spencer and I. I know that at least one of us can help you." I walk towards her and wrap my hands around her midsection so that my chest is pressed against her back.

"I don't want to hurt you or Evelyn. Please just let me walk it off, Paige." I can feel her tense up at my touch, but I don't care because she's not running away again. I loosen my grip a bit so that I'm not clutching onto her but so that I have her in my arms and she knows that I won't let her go.

"No because it doesn't solve anything if you just leave. I know you love that little girl to death, and you don't want to hurt her; but you hurt us in a different way by walking away."

"I don't want to be this person. I don't want to constantly have this fear of hurting the both of you." Her head rests against the door and I give her a chaste kiss on her shoulder while keeping my firm grip on her.

"Well, somebody has to remind you who you really are Emily. Why not let it be that little girl and me?" My voice is so low I feel like if I speak any louder Emily will be set off. But as I tried to keep my voice firm, it cracked when I asked the question. I want to be strong for Emily, and when my voice cracked I felt so small. My grip on her stomach becomes tighter as I rest my head on her back. I feel her stomach rise and fall with every breath she takes. I suddenly feel that her hand is no longer on the doorknob, but on my hand that's resting on her stomach.

"I won't run away." She turns while still in my grip, and presses a soft tender kiss on my lips that leaves me breathless. Her warm palms are resting on my neck and as I bring her face in closer to mine for another kiss, I remember the burning sensation In the back of my head.

I turn around to see Hanna and Tristen sitting on one of the steps looking over us. I felt a wave of relief when I didn't see Evee there like how I was expecting her to be there like in my dream.

An hour later, and here we are at the police station waiting for the officer from last night to come back to work to take out statements. Hanna and Tristen came with us, but quickly left when I realized I didn't have someone to open the Brew. Hanna promised that she knew what to do and that Tristen would help her, so Emily, Evee and I are just here waiting.

"Mrs. Dilaur- I mean, Ms. McCullers, come on over here and we can begin." The officer came and walked to his desk and pulled two chairs out for Emily and I. "Can I get you ladies something to drink? Some water or coffee? Maybe a juice box for the little girl?" He smiles at Evee and she does the same before nodding furiously, and burying her face in Emily's shoulder.

"Some coffee would be great, thank you." The officer looks at me, and I nod in agreement with Emily before he gets up and heads to the back.

"Why does people keep calling you two different names?" Emily leans into me with a smile as Evee takes a photo of her with her new camera.

"When we got married, I never took Jason's last name. But people always called me Mrs. DiLaurentis because everyone in town knew we were married. I never minded it until he passed." Just as I finished, the officer and his partner from last night came up.

"Hi Paige... Here's your coffee ladies. And this I believe is yours Ms. Evee." He bends down and gives her the juice box, and Evee hesitantly takes it from him leaning back to Emily.

"Hey Cole. Thank you for the coffee and juice." I get up and hug him and sit back down with the coffee in between my hands. "This is my...friend, Emily Fields."

"Yes, we met briefly yesterday. Hello. I'm sorry that you ladies had to come down here so early on a Sunday, but the earlier the better. If we could interview you two separately, that would be great. Paige, you can go with my partner here and Emily, I can take your statement over by my desk." We each go to our respected areas, and I look over the officer's shoulder the entire time that we both give out statement. I wanted to take Evee with me but she wanted to stay with Emily. I thought she would get a bit rowdy, but she stayed nestled to Emily's side looking at her camera.

"Okay I think we have everything from you two, now if we could just ask Ms. Evee a few questions that will end it and we can charge your mother." I nod and grab Evee from Emily's arms and sit her on my lap as the officer gets her a small water bottle and a lollipop. The officer asks her questions, but she is concentrating on sucking her lollipop. She avoids eye contact with everyone and is just fascinated with her lollipop.

"Evee sweetie, please talk to Officer Cole." She shakes her head and buries her face in my hair and I look at Cole with sympathetic eyes and he understands.

"We'll it's fine, we have enough information from you ladies to charge her with assault. Thank you for coming, and it was nice to see you again Paige. Don't be a stranger." Cole winks at me and flashes his charming smile, and I smile politely back at him and thank him for everything. Emily and I walk to the park and let Evee sit by the sandbox taking pictures, while we sit at the bench looking over her.

"Are you okay?" She asks reaching for my hand, but stops just short of touching it. I look up at her and there is scared look in her eyes. But I don't even care right now because it's too early for people to be at the park.

"I'm better now." When I look up, I see the blush of Emily's cheeks and it makes my stomach do flips. "Thank you for staying and protecting us again..."

"It was my job for 4 years to protect people, I think it's just out of habit now." She lets out a lighthearted laugh and shows a sad smile. Her eyebrows are furrowed as she looks down at our touching hands.

"If that's what you want to believe Em. I'm still thankful." I smile at her trying to dismiss herself so quickly for her heroicness.

"So, how are we going to do this Paige? I get hiding it from the town, but how are we going to hide this from Evelyn? That little girl is smart." We both look at Evee who is now just sitting on the swings not swinging, but staring off into the trees.

"Why would it be so bad if she knew? I mean she loves you already. And she loves Spencer and she's gay."

"Paige, she's fine with Spencer being gay because that's her aunt. It's different when it's your mom that is dating girls." I couldn't help but see the sadness in Emily's eyes as she spoke. She was looking at the giant pines like Evee was doing; she suddenly refused to make eye contact with me.

"Not girls just one girl, you, but I guess I understand. We just have to be super careful." She nods and I squeeze her hand one last time before I let go. "Evee, how about we go visit Grandpa Nick and Grandma Ashley?"

"Okay!" I say bye to Emily with a long hug, I even bury my face in her neck before pressing my lips to her warm soft neck. I pull away to see her amazing dimples embedded into her cheeks. I want to kiss her so bad but I know that I can't. Not here, not now. People are starting to come to the park, and I can't risk being seen showing affectionate to Emily like that. It kills me though that I can't kiss her like how we were kissing yesterday. But it also makes it a bit exciting that I can sneak kisses to her, even though it's not in the place that I wanted.

* * *

"There are my girls." My dad's rushes up and hugs me and Evee before we even approach the table.

"Hi grandpa!" Evee holds onto his neck and I pull away so that I could hug Ashley. Our hug lasted a bit longer than usual. I guess it was mostly from me. When I felt Ashley's arms around me I felt like I was 7 years old again, and having nightmares where I would wake up in a cold sweat and screaming. I had recurring nightmares about my mom and that night that my dad left her, and eventually Ashley was there to hold me when I was screaming. For a while I pretended to have nightmares just so that Ashley would come to my room and hold me, because I know Haley would have never done that.

So now in her arms I feel like the whole nightmare that I was running away from when I was 7 is back. A tear slips out without being aware and I immediately catch myself and pull away to pull myself together. But Ashley catches up with me as I walked away from them.

"Paige! What is going on with you?" She pulls my arm back and crash my face into her shoulder letting tears fall freely.

"Haley slapped me yesterday, and tried to take Evee last night." I feel Ashley's body freeze as my words hit her and she lifts up my chin so that I'm looking at her square in the eyes. She stares at me for a moment, and I can see a mix of emotions in her eyes. I see anger, sadness, rage, fear, and pure hatred in her dark blue eyes.

"I will destroy her. Have you told your father? Are you two okay?" I nod my head at her and she hugs me close to her.

"Yeah we are fine. Evee and I were with a friend at the house when Haley came in drunk. I told her to leave and she hit me and went to get Evee but Emily stopped her and I called the police. I pressed charges on her." I sniffle in between each sentence and wipe my tears as I remember the events of last time. With every tear I wipe away from my cheek, I feel the spot where my mom slapped me and there's a pang in my heart.

"I knew we should have stayed with you two yesterday. I told Nick that it was a mistake moving out of Rosewood, especially with her living back in town. That's it we are moving back, I don't care if I lose my promotion, no one hurts my babies." She begins to drag me up to the house, but before we reach the door I pull her back.

"You don't have to move back just for us, Mom. Don't let Haley ruin Buffalo for you, which was a good opportunity for you. As much as I miss you guys, you don't have to always keep protecting us. It's just Haley, I mean if you didn't move back when Jason died, I wouldn't expect you to move back now." Shit. I snap my mouth shut but it's no use because I can see the hurt in her eyes. I didn't mean to use that against her, but it was true; I needed them more when Jason died then now, but they weren't here. If I could deal with Jason's death by myself, I could handle Haley especially with Emily by my side.

* * *

**Emily POV**

After walking with Paige to her car, she told me that the Grille would stay closed today and that the Brew will only be open half day. I totally understand, she's been through a lot in the last 24 hours. I feel bad for her not only having to deal with her mom, but for dealing with my stupid moments. After Evelyn coming to me crying last night, my heart broke from seeing the amount of fear in a four year olds heart. I never want her to have that fear because of me. But I'm still afraid of hurting her and Paige. I came really close to doing just that this morning, just because I was startled.

But I'm kind of glad that Paige didn't let me walk away, because honestly I don't think I would have come back. I would have left town right then to save them from the pain I might cause them in the future. But when I thought about it more, breaking a promise is greater than the fear of hurting two people that I have learned to love in the past two weeks. Like Paige said, I would be hurting them in a different way if I would have left, and I would have broke the fresh promise I made to that amazing little girl.

I think about the hurt that Evee would have felt if she would have woke up with morning to find out I wouldn't be in her life. And then there is Paige, this is fair to her. She already has a kid to look after and doesn't need someone else to look after. I know she would have been hurt because even though it's only been two weeks, I love Paige and I know she cares about me enough to make me stay.

Is it crazy to love someone after knowing them for such a short amount of time? To love their kid as if they were your own after two weeks? I would think I was a creep for saying that, but yesterday as I had Evelyn on my chest and Paige under my arm, it felt like a family.

"Emily!" Spencer startled the thoughts I had while walking to the Brew to tell Hanna the news about a half day.

"Hey Spence." I give her a one armed hug and we fall into step with each other as we walk to the Brew.

"Damn Em, you look like hell. Did you not sleep last night?" She looks at me with concern, and I sigh a bit as I pinch the bridge of my nose.

"It's a long story Spence, and I don't really want to talk about. So how about I tell you later? Or you can just talk to Hanna." We make it to the Brew in silence, and I tell Hanna and Tris that they could start closing since it's almost noon. I get told to put a sign on the Grille informing the customers that unfortunately the establishments will be closed for the rest of the day.

Tris looks worried about me, and I smile at him but he doesn't buy it. As the girls clean up everything and are in their circle whispering about what happened last night I'm guessing he makes his way over. We start flipping the chairs/stools over so that they rest on the tables. We do this in silence for a few minutes before he starts to talk.

"So, are you going to tell me what happened this morning?" I stop flipping the chairs and look at him but he continues on with his job.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"I swear you should have been a guy. What kind of girl are you that you don't talk about your feelings and that kind of crap? Shit I feel like more of a girl than you." He huffs away knocking over a stool, and I can't help but laugh as he throws his little bitch fit. It was true, Tristen was always better with feelings than I was, and he was more emotional than I have ever been. Most of all he's a drama queen, actually when I first met him I thought he was gay. He was very sensitive to the women in our squad and even in our platoon, he wouldn't stand for the male soldiers to womanize us. And believe me, there was plenty of men that liked the fact that there was women on base, a little too much.

"Tris…" I grab his arm and pull him off to the lounge and sit with him on the couch. "What did you get out of what happened this morning? Or what did Hanna tell you?" I look over at the girls but they are still talking about their own things.

"Hanna didn't tell me anything. I heard you yelling at Paige this morning, so I walked down the hall and heard Paige yelling too. I sat at the top of the stairs ready if things got out of hand and Hanna sat next to me. You were going to leave, for good. Weren't you?" Hearing him say it out loud hits me more. It makes it real, that fact that he could tell what I was going to do even before realizing what I'm doing. I feel my eyes water a bit, as the sadness in his eyes because overwhelming. I love Tristen and I hated seeing him sad; especially if I'm the reason for it.

"You don't get it Tris. I thought it was the right thing to do this morning. I was freaking out, and I didn't want anyone to have to pacify me." The burning in my eyes becomes too much for me to handle and the tears fall. I expect him to hug me or something like he always seems to do but I peer through my fingers and see his clenched jaw. I waited for him to show some kindness but he seemed to become angrier.

"Tris?" As I called his name he pushed himself up and stormed out of the café, leaving the girls and I confused. I look at Hanna and she looks at me questioningly. I get up and run after him as he's walking down the street getting ready to turn the corner to our apartment. I yell for him but he continues to walk with balled up fist. I finally catch up with him and he's red.

"You can't just leave Emily. She has a kid! A kid that loves you! I told you when you told me about Paige and Evee that you needed to get your shit together before you got involved in their lives. We aren't teenagers anymore! You can't just leave without looking ba - "

"Don't you think I know all of this Tris?! Do you think that I wanted them to get involved with me? Hell no. I would give anything for me not to care about them so much and vice versa but I do care about them, a lot. That's why I was going leave so I didn't hurt them like I hurt you, you asshole! " I shove him back and walk past him to our apartment building running up the stairs. I hear his heavy footsteps behind me running up the stairs which make me move faster.

"Stop running away! Fucking take responsibility for the shit you do Em. You said you wanted to be with Paige and the first chance you get to make that happen, you almost fucking walk away." He gets up in my face and again I shove him back, because I know if he stays close to me I will seriously hurt him because my fists were hurting from keeping them balled up since I first shoved past him on the street.

"Fuck you Tristen! You don't get to lecture me about my life and my choices. I said I thought it was the right thing, but I know that I love both of them so much already that I would be back in a heartbeat. And you know what; I didn't run away from Paige today. I stayed and I'm staying for them." My voice was almost inaudible by the end of my rant. Shit, I've never cussed at Tristen or ever really yelled at him before. I usually leave and blow off steam resulting in me getting injured.

We stand in the apartment and it feels like the loudest place on earth. I hear the dripping of water in the faucet, the creak of the hardwood floors as one of us shifts from one foot to the other. I hear the wind rustle through the branches of the tree that's right by the window, and with every blow of the wind there is the screeching of the branch rubbing up against the window. The hairs in the back of my neck stand up as the roar of the air conditioner echoes throughout the apartment, and the chills of the cold air hitting my back. In this moment I was very aware of my surroundings as well as my internal being. I felt a wave of relief rush through me after I yelled at Tristen, and as guilty as I felt for taking it out on him, it felt good. I felt good.

"The reason I'm so hard on you, is because I want to look out for you and if I don't who will?" My eyes creep up as he speaks, until they reach his half hearted smile that I have grown so accustomed to over the years. Like I said before, Tristen is very in touch with his emotions. "I want you to be happy Em. And if we have to yell and cuss at each other for you to realize things, then I'm okay with that." He shrugs while running his fingers over his messy long hair.

"You don't have to look out for me Tris. You have your own life to live; you don't have to be the hero anymore. But I appreciate whatever this was, because I did realize some things. Sorry though for cussing at you." He brings into a hug and I hold him tight. And just like that we were good again; there were no hard feelings over cussing each other out but a mutual agreement.

"Awe M&M is all grown up." He whispers in my ear as his grip on me tightens.

"Shut up, dork." I pull away and playfully punch him in the stomach.

* * *

"Okay Hanna that is not fair. How was I supposed to know what Laguna Beach and the Hills are?"

"Oh Em… Every girl should know about LC."

"What the hell is a LC? I thought it was Laguna Beach." I look at Tristen whose laughing his ass off next to Hanna on the couch as we begin the first season of a show called Laguna Beach. I have no idea what the hell she's talking about. When Tristen and her started talking about it while we were waiting for our takeout to be ready, it was like they were speaking a damn foreign language. Hanna slaps her palm on her forehead as I continue to be confused and ask what a LC is.

"Did you not have a childhood?"

"I hardly think that having not seen Laguna Beach constitutes not having a childhood, Hanna." Spencer reaches over my head to hand me the popcorn and I thank her for backing me up. "Hanna I think I'm going to go, I have homework. Em I hope you have fun bingeing on LC and Lo."

"Can I come with you? Please don't leave me here with them." She rests her hand on my shoulder as if to say that she is sorry, but I couldn't come. I don't think she's actually going to study or do homework, I think she's going to go meet with her mystery girl. She let it slip one day that we were talking that she was seeing someone, but she never went into detail about who so I just respected her and never asked.

"Okay let's start!" Hanna presses the play button as she tucks herself into Tristen's side on the couch while I huff and fall back sinking into the other side of the sectional. Four hours and three bowls of popcorn later, I gave up and dozed off after I realized that these girls reminded me of the catty girls at my school, I lost interest. I guess I wasn't the only one who wasn't interested in the show, because I hear giggling coming from the kitchen. I decide I better not disturb them and just turn off the TV show and begin to clean up the mess that they made.

"Emmy! I misses you" I get tackled to the floor with a giant hug from the small girl and pick her up as I get up and swing her onto my back. Damn it, what have I gotten myself into. Her laughter filled the room as I galloped around the living room, and then collapsed on the couch with our laughter filling the air and her smiles clouding my vision. I lay flat on my back and she does the same.

"I missed you too Evee." I look up at the clock and it's almost nine. I lay with her on the couch and crawls up so that her head is resting next to mine. I hear Paige's voice in the distance talking to Hanna, but it disappears as the soft snoring coming from the little girl right next to my head. I smile at her hands still holding onto my cheeks, but are slowly sliding as she falls deeper into sleep. My eyes begin to feel a bit heavy too as I hear the evened out breathing of Evelyn.

I feel lips brush up against mine, and my groggy eyes open slowly as I awaken and my vision clears up so that I'm faced with Paige looking down at me with a smile. I get up slowly while looking back at the little girl curled up next to me.

"Hey." She says in a low sultry voice that jump starts my heart, and suddenly clears my vision a lot faster as I gaze at the beautiful woman in front of me.

I maneuver myself over Evelyn so that I'm careful to not startle her and wake her up, and reach for Paige's body. She flashes me a sly smile as I bring her closer to me and press my lips against hers. I haven't kissed her all day and I feel like I've needed her lips on mine all day, especially when being the third wheel with the two blue eyed lovebirds. Our lips move together as if we have been kissing for years instead of days. The fluid movement of our lips and hands as we crave for each other's touch becomes so overbearing when I feel a throbbing sensation coming from in between my legs that I have to pull away. I shift uncomfortably trying to rid the familiar pain away but my attempts are unsuccessful seeing as there is no cold shower in the living room.

"I missed you today. I wish you would have come with me to my parents." Paige says as she snakes her arms around my neck and pressing her body onto me as she leans against the archway. Yeah this is not helping whatsoever, especially since she keeps doing the sultry voice that is driving me insane.

"I wanted to, but you know that would have been a bit strange." I start running kisses down her jaw line, and her neck all the way down to her collarbone. The grip I have on the smalls of her back gets tighter as she throws her head back letting out a soft moan. Just when the throbbing was starting to diminish, it comes back stronger than before. I soon lost all hope of it going away by itself when her head snaps forward and she presses her lips hard on mine. I'm caught off guard and she pushes me so that she has me pinned against the archway. Her tongue surprises me more as it slowly swipes my bottom lip and she now begins to trail kisses hastily down my neck. Did I make her feel this good when I was doing this to her a few minutes ago? I guess absence does make the heart grow fonder, even if it was only a day.

"Ahem." And as quickly as it escalated it ended, with Tristen announcing his and Hanna's presence. Well that was almost like a cold shower, I don't know whether to thank him or kill him right now. "We were just going to go upstairs."

"Sorry guys." I catch Paige blushing before she buries her face into my chest, and I laugh when I hear her and Hanna giggle. They walk upstairs hand and hand as both girls continue to giggle. "So do you mind spending the night again?" She looks up at me with her puppy dog eyes and as if she had to persuade me. I kiss softly and walk over to pick up Evelyn as she turns off the lights down stairs.

I place Evelyn her starry night room, and it still amazed me that Paige painted this beautiful room. I sit there for a few minutes after I tuck her in as I look around the room at the glow in the dark stars. I probably would have stayed in the room longer if it wasn't for Paige's silhouette coming through the door. I take one last look at the sleeping little girl and walk out the door where Paige and I sit on her bed. It's funny that now that we are here alone, we don't feel the extreme urge to kiss each other like we did downstairs. We lay on our sides facing each other with our hands one hand tucked under our head while the other is just resting on top of Paige's hand.

"So I told my parents about what happened last night with Haley and after a huge discussion. They decided that moving back to Rosewood is best. They are actually moving in with me…"


	12. Chapter 12

_**A/N:** Okay so this story will be updated hopefully on Saturday nights/Sunday mornings.(Except for today since it's sunday night..Sorry had a birthday party) So I hope you enjoy these weekly updates until I start my final year at University. Thank you again to everyone that is reading this story it means a lot to me and keeps me writing. I love reviews and seeing what you think of the story and it tells me that you guys stick are enjoying the story so please let me know what you think so that the story keeps going._

**_Guest: I'm Sorry that you feel that Paige isn't cute but I enjoy writing Paily stories because I believe that they are endgame and truly love both Paige and Emily being together and I write them because they get little to no screen time and I feel like there is so much more to Paily than what viewers think. That's why I write Paily and chose to continue writing Paily stories. I'm sorry if you want to see me writing Spemily/emillson/emaya/hannily or any other Emily Pairing but I don't think I will. But I do read some Emily with other pairings if you want me to recommend._**

_**saii79:** I don't think many people know that laguna beach/LC is but it's just a super drama filled "Reality" show that i thought Hanna would watch. She stayed for now, who knows what will happen though after the news... Tristen has his weird ways of helping Emily and it's only the Beginning for Emily's healing. I knew you would like the mystery girl thing. Oh this isn't the end of Haley and the return of Ali is coming soon. More Drama to come. It's only the beginning._

_**Del:** You're right it is too sudden. And it hits Emily at the beginning of this chapter. Evee has some time to accepted Emily as another mom i mean she befriended Emily after one day, would it really take her that long to accepted her as another mom? Thank you for loving the story and your consistent reviewing!_

_**Guest2**: Another update? sure there you go!_

_**KooshGID**: Uh oh is right. how will Emily take it? You'll see!_

_So this is a Short chapter of mostly fluff. More serious stuff and angst will be in the next chapter. Enjoy!_

* * *

Chapter 12

**Emily's POV**

"Your parents are moving in with you. When?" I pull away a bit and sit up against the headboard. Paige quickly sits up too, but our once linking fingers are no longer within reach of each other.

"They said they still needed to figure out the details with work, but they said by the end of the month." She messes with the bedding as she speaks.

"That's in less than two weeks…" I try to look up at her, but I feel so overwhelmed with this new information. This meant something bad. I mean, I thought her parents were nice and everything, but if I was their daughter's first relationship with a woman I don't think they would be very fond of me spending as much time with Evelyn as I have been. She comes and sits in front of me and places her hands on top of mine. But my eyes still won't come up to meet hers they stay firmly on the pink color of the bedding.

"Yeah, I'm not all that thrilled with them moving in here; but it's only until their place is fixed up in town." I get off the bed after she discloses the information, and just pinch the bridge of my nose as I try to decide what to make of everything.

"So how is this going to work? I mean the places that are safe for us to actually be together are here and my apartment, and even then my apartment is still iffy since it's in downtown." I start to pace back and forth next to her bed, and I can feel her staring at me and I want to look at her but I know that if I do then this conservation won't happen.

"Yeah I know, I thought about that too but we still have two weeks until they move in so we don't have to sneak around just yet." Her voice is laced with more hope than anything, but it made my heart sink just a bit. I feel like I'm not moving forward and that I'm just back to how I was with Maddie. Sneaking around because of the fear of being found out and feeling like you're not worthy of being seen out with the other, almost like they are embarrassed of being with you.

"You mean on top of the sneaking around we already have to do?" I raise my voice just a bit and flail my arms but only out of frustration.

"Yeah…Emily, are you sure you want to do this? I know you said you weren't ready to let everybody know, but you didn't sign up for all of this." She sits at the edge of the bed looking at me, as I finally look up at her and see the saddest expression on her face.

"I want this Paige, but it seems like it's about to get a lot more complicated and it's only been a day." I kneel down in front of her and place my hands on her calf as I see her eyes start to water. God, so many emotions are running through me all at once; but I put my emotions on the back burner as I raise my hand and wipe the tear off her cheek.

"I get it Emily… Look I'm sorry that I even started this. Maybe we were just kidding ourselves." She starts crying and I don't know what's worse, knowing the fact that she's crying or that I caused it. She hunches over and places her head on her knees while she starts to shake. I lift her head up and wipe her tears as I think about how the thought of her ever crying like this again kills me. I kiss her roughly getting the taste of salt on her soft pink lips that make me kiss her harder until the shaking stops. She lets herself go and her hands cup my cheeks kissing me with the same force. I place my hands on hers and remove them from my face as I give her one last kiss before pulling away. I keep her hands in mine as I look into her eyes.

"Paige, I'm not sorry that this happened. And I'm not saying that we should end this, I'm just saying that it's going to get really complicated. I want this, but maybe I should be asking you if you want this. You have Evelyn to think about and this is your town. I mean I care what people think about me, but I haven't lived here my entire life like you."

"Emily, I like you and Evee loves you. This town has seen me grow up but I don't really care what they think. I care about what my family is going to think, what Jason's family is going to think because they wouldn't like it at all. You're right it's going to get complicated but my whole life has been complicated, but at least this complication it worth it because I'm happy with you." Her hand grips onto my neck bringing my face to hers for a kiss. A perfect kiss that takes my fear, of this ending too soon, away. "But we need to put some ground rules."

"Yeah I'm with you. I was actually thinking about that last night. So obviously, no touching in public and in front of Evelyn." I stop but she nods her head and rolls her wrist telling me to continue on making me become a bit nervous. "Um well that's all I came up with…Wait what do we say we are then? Like to some people, or your family? Because I don't want them to think that I'm just this creeper that hangs around Evelyn all the time. I know that's kind of what your mother-in-law thought when Evelyn was just staying with me during the party. What if we slip and Evee finds o-"

"Em calm down. My mother-in-law is just mad that she hasn't spent time with Evelyn in over a month. She was probably just jealous that she clung to you and not her or Ali. I just say you are an old friend okay? It's simple I'll just say that you went to school with me or something. Don't worry. And if Evelyn finds out then…well I'm not too sure what to say. We just need to be careful, because I'm not sure if I can explain to my four year old why her mom is with a woman."

"So we are doing this then?" I say sounding hopeful because I wanted this. I fought with myself for two weeks before I finally gave into my feelings for Paige, and I wasn't ready for it to go to waste. I could handle this; we can meet up at my apartment from time to time to get some privacy. We could make this work.

"Yeah we are doing this." She smiles while squeezing my hand and I lift up her hand bringing it to my lips and press a kiss on the back of it.

My eyes gaze back at the alarm clock showing it's almost 11 and I realize that Paige has to open up the Brew tomorrow and the rest of us have school. As if she reads my mind she drags herself to the front of the bed flipping the covers off and patting the spot next to her. I slip under the covers with her pressing my chest to her back as she lays on my left arm while my right arm is draped over her stomach. I smile into her hair smelling the vanilla laced shampoo, and snuggle in closer to her. Our bodies together were like matching puzzle pieces having every part of our bodies forming perfectly to one another, almost like they were made for each other. My heart continues to race as her lightest touch makes it harder for me to sleep. With her index finger I feel her drawing circles up and down my arm sending chills up my body with her warm feather light touch. I soon fall asleep still feeling the chills run up my spine and even the hairs sticking up but my heart isn't racing, this time it's actually slowed my heart rate.

* * *

**Paige's POV**

I don't think I've slept this well in a very long time. I feel the warmth radiating from the body next to me; I look down to my waist and see the olive colored hand draped over my cream colored stomach is a perfect contrast. We haven't moved from when we first fell asleep and I don't think that even in my sleep I wanted to be away from Emily. I nuzzle myself closer into her body and grip onto her arm wrapping it tighter across my waist. Yeah this is how I want to wake up every morning. After last night I didn't think that this was even going to be a possibility. After a long argument with my parents, I was deemed of not being able to protect myself or my family. So they made their decision about moving back. My first thought was Emily… I know it's crazy, but my first thought was that our relationship was over before it started. My second thought was that having my parents moving back meant more people to hide this from, at first the main concern was keeping it from Jessica DiLaurentis, but now that Ali and my parents are back, the list keeps getting bigger of people we have to hide from.

The alarm goes off and my eyes shoot open while my arm swings fast knocking the alarm off the nightstand making it crash on top of the carpet. I didn't want to go work, I wanted to stay in Emily's warm arms and I can tell Emily didn't want to let go either. I feel her strong arms wrapped around me tighter as I try to get up but fail. Instead I turn around in her arms and I'm met with a sleepy smile.

"Do you have to go?" She asks while her eyes are still closed and I think she's even more beautiful right now than ever. Emily hardly ever wore makeup, I think all she did was put some light blush and maybe some eyeliner. But seeing here right now was just more natural than ever, her smile was radiant even at five o'clock in the morning.

"I wish I didn't have to but I already had the whole weekend off so I should go back to work." I place my hands on her cheeks making her nuzzle into my palms while her smile grows with the warmth of my hands. "But you could sleep over again if you want?"

"I would love that. Who knows when we will be able to sleep over when your parents come." She finally opens her eyes and I see the gorgeous twinkle of her dark brown eyes. They are still a bit closed from her trying to wake up, but my eyes focus on her lips as they part for a yawn. She looks more awake now and I take the opportunity to kiss her perfectly plumped lips. I feel the electrifying shock course through my lips and down my to the pit of my stomach as our lips connect. "Can I go to work with you? I have to go into town anyways before school."

"If you feel like being up at 5:30am to bake with me then yeah you can come." I laugh a bit before getting up out of the bed but I'm pulled back into the bed. Snaking her arm across my back and bringing me on top of her. Pressing her lips to mine as her hands wrap around my waist as my palms are on her cheeks so I can deepen the kiss.

"Do you really think that I care about the time? If I'm spending time with you then that's all I want. And in the process you can teach me how to bake." She lets me go, regretfully as I slip out of the bed and walk to my bathroom to brush my teeth. I walk back into the room tying up my hair and walking over to Emily who is sitting at the edge of the bed stretching out her arms. I open the dresser drawer getting a white long sleeve shirt and hand it to Emily. She takes it from me as she gets up from the bed and I walk to my closet. But before I close the closet door I turn to catch a glimpse of Emily's toned stomach as she slips off her shirt. My eyes stay glued to her olive colored abs. God she was so incredibly toned everywhere. But before I walk over and just throw her on the bed again to just sleep in a bit more, I close the closet door so I can change.

* * *

"I texted Hanna and told her to stop by the Brew around 7:30 so that she can pick you up. And I can treat her with some coffee for being an amazing sister." I smile at her as we drive to the café; I usually never take the car to work because I love walking into town during this time of the day. The sunrise was always so beautiful but I was already running late. If I wanted to stay on time with the baking times and everything before customers came in, so I had to take the car to cut down 10 minutes from my time. But I don't think that Emily minded since our hands were interlocked the whole care ride.

"Yeah that sounds good. I'll just have to go to the apartment before I head to school, I haven't showered since Saturday morning and I feel gross." We get out of the car with matching smiles and with our hands intertwining as she unlocks the front door. She turns on the lights throughout the café and I go behind the counter to start making some fresh pots of coffee. She later joins me in the kitchen as I cut the scone dough into triangles and put them into the cookie sheet.

"Grab an apron and let's get to teaching." I put the scones into the oven and get the ingredients for the muffins. We have different bowls for the two different muffin mixes we are going to make. I tell her to even out the flour and the rest of the dry ingredients as I start up the mixers with the wet ingredients.

"So you bake all the things fresh every day?" I simply nod my head and I see that she's taken aback. "Damn, you're like wonder woman, with baking everything and running your mom's business and spending time with Evelyn."

"I wouldn't call myself wonder woman, but I do have many things to do so it's never boring. But I think I'm going to have to close down the Grille because I don't think I want the reasonability anymore. I make plenty of money from the Brew."

"I get it; it's hard to juggle all those things. I think that it would be good for you to focus on Evelyn and the Brew so you're not so stressed out because I can tell." She sifts through the dry ingredients when I turn around to look at her. I wrap my arms around her waist from behind and it felt like we could do this forever. That we could always be like this, but knowing that we couldn't be like this out in public just yet. As I pull away I knock the bowl up causing a cloud of flour come up and hit her in the face as I sink behind her to protect my face from the flour. As I try to slip my hands out from her waist she catches my arms and turning with a face full of flour. "You are so going to get it." Is all she says before I pull away and start to run around the kitchen counter, away from Emily and her handful of flour.


End file.
